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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27070591">scs - ayakashi</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/starlightkun/pseuds/starlightkun'>starlightkun</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>ayakashi [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>NCT (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Blood and Injury, Brief Vomit Mention, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Human Jaehyun, LIKE TOW VERY EMBARRASSING SCENES IM SORRY IF U GET BAD SECONDHAND EMBARRASSMENT LMAO, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Weapons, death mention, exactly one (1) nightmare, family friends, graphic depictions of blood, gun mention, just like the others this is very tender adn sweet, uh heres the content warnings (warning vary by part), uhhh what else fuck</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-09 00:35:45</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>66,334</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27070591</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/starlightkun/pseuds/starlightkun</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>in which you go through a mortifying ordeal, but come out on the other side better for it (that was a terrible desc i will come up with a better one later i pinky promise) ; part of the ayakashi series</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Reader</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>ayakashi [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1961095</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. [one]</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>you have to read the prologue before reading this so you know what the fuck is happening</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>In the morning, you literally rolled yourself out of bed, barely sticking the landing on two feet. Well, more like one and a half feet. Somehow, despite your classes starting an hour later than Monday and Wednesday, and therefore requiring you to wake up an hour later, you were much more tired in the morning before your 9 a.m. classes. You went through your typical routine with Taeyong: wake up, make breakfast, eat breakfast on your coffee table, brush your teeth, get dressed, go to class. All with a Nekomata on your heels, either in his cat or true form.</p><p>Slipping your shoes on at the door, you gave him a farewell ear scratch, earning a pleased purr from the back of his cat throat. You then stood up straight and took off for your class. Tuesday and Thursday mornings you didn’t get to see Jaemin or any of your friends in the quad. Jaemin’s classes didn’t start until ten then, Yuta was at his off-campus facility to work on his graduate research; Tuesdays Jaehyun was at his second job all day, and on Thursdays he was at his job for most of the day, not coming back on-campus to help teach until evening classes started up. For some godforsaken reason, the entire Literature department at your school decided to have their classes either at eight in the morning or six in the evening, no in between.</p><p>So you trekked onto campus by yourself and walked to your Calculus class by yourself and plopped down in your seat by yourself. Your seatmate was a kid who was asleep for half the class, and you couldn’t blame her, it <em>was</em> boring.</p><p>Today was review for your test on Thursday: applications of integrals and derivatives. Oh joy. Your professor handed out the review packets, and reminded you of his office hours tomorrow for him to look over the review sheet and help you on any questions that you got wrong.</p><p>Next, you had a small break between classes, and you took that time to grab yourself a drink from the dining hall, something to help wake you up a bit more. Not that integrals and derivatives weren’t absolutely <em>invigorating</em>, but your professor unfortunately had a very monotonous voice, one that frequently had you being lulled into Stage 1 of your sleep cycle. Those sweet, sweet Alpha and Theta waves were seductresses, truly.</p><p>After sipping on your drink and scrolling through social media, you then made your way to your Human Communications class. The entire class was a joke, but at least the professor gave fun in-class assignments, even if he didn’t actually teach you all anything. You had an even bigger break between your second and third classes of the day, and you took the opportunity to try to work on your review packet for your Calculus test in the dining hall while you ate lunch. You wanted to get the packet done today so you could take advantage of the office hours tomorrow.</p><p>By the time you had to get going for your last class, you had about a sixth of the packet done. It was going to be a long day, you could already tell.</p><p>Abnormal Psychology was a breeze as per usual, but unlike your Human Communications class that was also a breeze, this one wasn’t a waste of your money. You were actually learning, thank god.<em> And </em>it was <em>interesting</em> stuff that you were learning. When you left the lecture hall, you had a pep in your step. Until you remembered that you had that Calculus review packet to finish.</p><p>And so with a bit less pep in your step, you entered your apartment, toed your shoes off at the door, set your bag down on your coffee table, and went into your kitchen to make yourself a snack. Taeyong was right on your heels as soon as you stepped in the apartment, which you didn’t necessarily mind. Normally, when he was clingy in his cat form, you found it endearing. And in his true form, it was… also usually endearing. When you turned around from pouring Goldfish into a cup, you nearly smacked right into him.</p><p>“Oh!” You narrowly avoided him, scooting around the man to leave your kitchen. He followed.</p><p>You settled on the floor in front of your coffee table and brought your review packet, calculator, and pencil back out of your bag. Barely through reading the longer word problem, you were interrupted by Taeyong.</p><p>“What are you doing?” He questioned, now very close to you as he tried to read the paper over your shoulder, eyes squinted in confusion. Wait, <em>could</em> he read? Never mind, that wasn’t important right now.</p><p>“Studying for a test, Yong,” you explained, trying to refocus on finishing the question.</p><p>“What’s a… integral?”</p><p>“It’s math, Yonggie, you don’t need to know it.”</p><p>“If you’re learning it, then it’s important, right?”</p><p>“Not for you.”</p><p>He was quiet for a moment, and naively thinking that he was done, you went back to the paper.</p><p>“Well why not?”</p><p>“Because you’re a catboy who I provide food and shelter for and just lazes around my apartment all day without a single care or obligation,” you snapped, now having officially lost your place in the paragraph worth of information.</p><p>“Oh.”</p><p>Thinking that you had finally shut him up, you started back at the beginning of the question, mouthing the words to yourself. You absentmindedly reached to grab a handful of your Goldfish, but instead found another hand already in there. Taeyong only looked slightly guilty as he withdrew his hand from your cup, Goldfish secured in his grip. Approximately <em>half</em> your Goldfish, to be precise.</p><p>Your glare trailed from his hand to his face as you took deep breaths to keep your instinct to go off on him at bay. He wasn’t doing anything especially worth any venom from you, but goddamn if you weren’t still absolutely <em>vexed</em> by it anyway.</p><p>“Sorry,” he tried to apologize through a mouthful of Goldfish, only succeeding in spitting moist crumbs onto you.</p><p>Shoving your papers back into your backpack, you leapt to your feet without a word and stormed towards the front door. You smashed down the backs of your shoes as you furiously tried to stuff your feet back into them. Taeyong followed you to the door, clearly worried.</p><p>“Y/N, I’m—”</p><p>“I’m going to go study somewhere else,” you cut him off shortly. “I’ll be back later, Taeyong.”</p><hr/><p>Arriving at Lenticular Café later that afternoon, you were in a somewhat better mood. At least refreshed from your walk. Until you looked in through the caution tape they had in an ‘X’ over where the doors were supposed to be. Right, the café had been absolutely destroyed from the Wraith attack. There was a man patching up the holes in the floor from Sicheng’s restraining of Jeno, and you couldn’t see Renjun or Johnny anywhere. Not that you’d be able to stay here and study even if you <em>could</em> find them. Feeling dejected, you wandered back down Bell Street. Maybe you could take over your parents’ office and study there, or even in the back room. For some reason, you kept walking by the teal door, though.</p><p>A couple streets over, you came across a familiar raspberry door that you hadn’t been by in so long. Petal Street was in the opposite direction of Bell Street from your apartment, so you rarely went by it anymore. Not since high school, when it was on the way from your home to the bookstore. On a whim, you turned the door handle to Vivi’s Vintage Vinyls and pushed it open. A soft tune was playing from a record player in the corner and the whole store felt warm and welcoming, with an old but somehow familiar smell encircling you like a hug as you stepped inside and closed the door behind you once more.</p><p>Jung Jaehyun was sitting on a stool behind the counter, his clothes much more casual than what he typically wore to class. A simple black tee, black jeans, and a silver chain hanging from his neck. He looked up from the book he had been reading, a soft but blinding smile coming to his lips when he saw you.</p><p>“Hey, Y/N,” he greeted you, tucking a bookmark to keep his place in his book. “What are you doing here? You don’t have a record player, do you?”</p><p>“Uh, no, I don’t,” you admitted. “This is going to sound weird, but can I study here? I can’t really focus anywhere else right now, and I don’t know, I just thought—”</p><p>“Of course,” your friend interrupted you kindly. “Come around the counter, you can sit right there.”</p><p>He gestured to the corner on his right, tucked beneath the front window. There was a pile of blankets and pillows that resembled a small nest, altogether looking very comfy. As you settled down, you said, “Thanks, Jae.”</p><p>“Of course. You want a water or something?”</p><p>“Uh, sure.”</p><p>He nodded, standing up from the stool to open the door behind the two of you. It looked to be a small office, probably the owner’s. He came back just a second later with a water bottle in his hand, and he tossed it to you. It was cold, fresh from the fridge.</p><p>“Thanks,” you cracked it open to take a sip.</p><p>“Of course,” he grinned down at you, dimples appearing. “Before you get in the zone, do you want to choose the tunes?”</p><p>You briefly glanced over at the record player atop the end of the counter, the same color as the door. Quite liking what was playing at the moment—smooth, soulful jazz—you shook your head, “No, I’m good. Thanks, though.”</p><p>“No problem. I’ll let you get studying now.”</p><p>And so you brought out your review packet and got to work, and Jaehyun opened his book back up and started reading again.</p><hr/><p>A couple of customers came through while you were in the vinyl shop, none paying you any mind as they flicked through vinyls and picked out the ones they wanted before bringing them up to the counter to purchase them. You finally finished your Calculus packet sometime after the sun had gone down, and flipped it shut with a relieved sigh.</p><p>“Done!” You groaned, fully flopping back onto the pile. “God, I just wanna take a nap now.”</p><p>“You can if you want,” Jaehyun offered, flipping a page in his book.</p><p>You were tempted, but your stomach growling told you that your body had other plans, “Mm, I think dinner first for me.”</p><p>Standing up, you stretched and cracked your back, tapping Jaehyun on the head to draw his attention from his book.</p><p>“Hm?” He absent-mindedly hummed.</p><p>“I’ll probably just get takeout from down the street, you want me to get you anything?”</p><p>“I’ve got dinner in the fridge,” he jerked his head towards the door behind the two of you. “But thanks, Y/N.”</p><p>“Of course,” you slung your bag over your shoulder. “Thanks for letting me study here.”</p><p>“No problem, I forgot you were there for a bit.”</p><p>“Considering your eyes are still glued to your book even while holding a conversation with me, I’m not surprised.”</p><p>Jaehyun fully turned around then to give you a pointed look, “I’m looking at you, happy?”</p><p>You snickered at your friend’s slight annoyance, “Very. Anyway, I’ll head out and leave you alone now.”</p><p>“Thank God.”</p><p>“Hey!” You smacked his shoulder before walking back out from behind the counter. “You’re rude, Jung Jaehyun.”</p><p>“Don’t tell your father I was rude to you, he’ll tell <em>my</em> father and I’ll get an earful at the next family dinner.”</p><p>“Maybe I will then.”</p><p>“See you tomorrow, Y/N.”</p><p>“See you, Jae,” you pushed the raspberry door back open and left the shop.</p><hr/><p>Arriving back in your apartment, you dropped your schoolbag by the door and peered around your apartment. No sign of Taeyong. You shook the plastic bag that held the takeout you’d gotten in it.</p><p>“Yong! Yonggie! I’ve got takeout! Food! Dinner!” You walked further into your apartment, checking around the sofa and living room. “Taeyong!”</p><p>With a frown, you started creeping down the hallway. Maybe he was taking a nap? He didn’t usually catnap this late at night. Then, you saw a movement at the bottom of your vision. Peeking out from behind your door was Taeyong, in his cat form. He looked up at you with wide and nervous eyes, <em>mrow</em>ing uncertainly. Oh, he was probably still spooked from your storming out this afternoon. And of course, you couldn’t stay mad at him in his rather adorable cat form.</p><p>You sat down on the floor, reaching your hand out towards him, “Oh, Yonggie, I’m sorry about snapping at you earlier. I was just frustrated, okay?”</p><p>He crept up to you cautiously, stretching his head out to bump into your hand. Getting the hint, you scratched behind his ears, his favorite. He purred in delight, and getting the feeling that you’d resolved the situation, you shifted to stand up.</p><p>“Come on, I brought dinner,” you picked the bag up and took it to your coffee table.</p><p>Now in his true form, Taeyong eagerly followed you and plopped down in the space between the couch and the table. You laid out the containers of food and picked up your TV remote. Time to catch up on the drama the two of you had been watching.</p><hr/><p>The next day after your classes, you found yourself thinking about your trip to Lenticular Café yesterday. The restaurant had been pretty banged up, Johnny and Renjun probably needed help. As soon as you entered your apartment, you were given your standard greeting by Taeyong—which consisted of him attacking you within your first five steps into your apartment: if in his cat form, he would wrap himself around your ankles, making it impossible for you to walk without first stopping to give him ear scratches; or if in his true form, he’d throw his arms around you and press his head against your neck, hair tickling your skin. Today was the former, and with a playful sigh, you knelt down for him to immediately push his head underneath your hand.</p><p>“Hey, Yonggie, have a good day?” You cooed down at the cat.</p><p>“Yep!” He answered in his normal human voice, startling you from the reverie with your pet. Right, he was <em>not</em> your pet, he was a human-adjacent man.</p><p>“I was going to head down to Lenticular and see if the guys need any help with putting the café back together. You coming?” You asked as you stood up to head into your kitchen.</p><p>Taeyong turned into his true form to follow you into the kitchen, “Sure!”</p><p>“Great, let me get a glass of water then we’ll go.”</p><p>You passed by the open kitchen pantry and caught sight of something. Or rather, a certain <em>lack</em> of something.</p><p>“Taeyong, did you eat the rest of the Goldfish?”</p><p>“No!” He whined in his defense. “I poured myself a cup… then spilled the rest.”</p><p>Flipping open your garbage can, sure enough, most of the contents of your new container of Goldfish were in there, “Oh my god…”</p><p>“You always throw food away that’s been on the ground!”</p><p>“Yep, yep, you did the right thing, Yong,” you assured him, turning back to your glass of water.</p><hr/><p>Once again in front of the yellow ‘X’ of caution tape over the doorway of Lenticular Café, you called out into it, “Johnny! Renjun! Are you guys there?”</p><p>You heard sounds from upstairs, then Johnny was emerging from the hallway that you could clearly see now without the purple curtain. He grinned at you two, “Hey! You guys can come in, duck under the tape.”</p><p>Doing so, you met the Domeki halfway, where the holes in the floorboards had been fixed. Your friend gave you a hug, and after pulling back, you looked around at the café. The debris had been cleared out, but apparently most of the furniture had been destroyed as well, as it was pretty barren. White patches sharply contrasted the purple walls, holes that had been fixed up.</p><p>“Hey, little lady, Taeyong. What are you two doing here?” Johnny asked.</p><p>“We wanted to see if there was anything we can do to help with the café.”</p><p>“Right now we’re just waiting on furniture shipments, those are coming tomorrow and the day after, and we’re hiring people to help install everything. Renjun’s out finding replacement décor right now and we’ll probably put them up the same day we install all the furniture… so nope! There’s nothing you can do to help with the café right now.”</p><p>Your face fell, “Oh, are you sure?”</p><p>“I said, ‘nothing you can do to help <em>right now</em>,’” he repeated, making you perk up. “But if you come back <em>tomorrow morning</em>, I can give you some flyers announcing our grand re-opening. It’d be a real help if you put them up around campus or something, and tell all your friends, and tell your friends to tell <em>their</em> friends.”</p><p>“I will!” You promised with a bright grin.</p><p>“Wonderful. What time’s your first class tomorrow?”</p><p>“Nine.”</p><p>“Can you pick them up before going? I’ll be up anyway, the delivery guys are coming at six.”</p><p>“Sure!”</p><p>“Great, see you then!”</p><hr/><p>The next morning you were at Lenticular Café bright and early, and there was a door again! You pushed open the lilac door hesitantly. There were a few guys carrying in a table from the back entrance, and you looked around for either of your friends.</p><p>Renjun was directing the guys on where to put the table, and he seemed to have noticed you by the door.</p><p>“Wait there, unless you want to get hit by a table,” he called out to you before disappearing into the hallway. He emerged once again with a thick stack of lilac papers. Avoiding the burly men who were going back out—presumably to get the next table—Renjun walked over to you and held out the stack, “Here.”</p><p>“Thank you!” You accepted them, reading over the flyer.</p><p>
  <b>Lenticular Café Grand Reopening!</b>
</p><p>
  <b>March 24, 20XX, 10am – 10pm</b>
</p><p>
  <b>777 Bell Street</b>
</p><p>
  <b>$5 a plate*</b>
</p><p>
  <em>*senior and student discounts available</em>
</p><p>“You guys have student discounts?”</p><p>“What does it matter to you? Johnny always feeds you for free,” Renjun snorted. “You better give out all of those.”</p><p>“I will!” At the bottom was a rather artsy picture of the café, one that brought a smile to your face, “Who took this? It’s amazing.”</p><p>“Don’t you have somewhere to be?” He snapped at you, redness crawling up his neck to his face and ears.</p><p>“Yep, class!” You answered, not letting his harshness faze you. “See you later, Renjun!”</p><hr/><p>You spent your day at school between classes pinning up as many flyers as you could with the box of thumbtacks and stapler you’d brought from your apartment, and giving them to any classmates who questioned the giant stack of papers you had with you. By the time you left your Chemistry lab, you only had about ten or fifteen flyers left, and felt rather proud of yourself. You figured you’d hit up the buildings you hadn’t gone in for your classes that day to hang up the rest of them.</p><p>The Literature and Foreign Language building was right next to the Science building, so you headed over there first. Pinning one on every bulletin board you came across in the two-story building, you were just heading down the stairs, counting how many you had left when you nearly ran right into someone.</p><p>Screeching to a halt, your apology was stopped before you could say a single syllable by the man you’d almost hit, “Sorry! Y/N, hey!”</p><p>“Oh, hi Jae,” you were relieved that it was him and not, worst case scenario, your World Literature professor that you’d almost body-slammed down the stairs.</p><p>“What are you doing in here?” He questioned, putting his thumb between the pages of the book he’d been reading to save his spot. “You don’t have a class now, do you?”</p><p>“No, I’m putting up some flyers!” You held one out to him. “Café reopening.”</p><p>He skimmed it over quickly, “Does the student discount apply to grad students?”</p><p>“Uh, I don’t know about that, you’d have to ask Johnny or Renjun.”</p><p>“Johnny and Renjun?”</p><p>“Johnny’s the owner and the cook, Renjun is the host and waiter.”</p><p>“Friends of yours?”</p><p>“Yeah, they’re finishing up a big remodeling right now of the whole restaurant. Johnny’s food is really good. Renjun’s service is… well, let’s just say Johnny’s food is so worth it.”</p><p>“We should go then,” Jaehyun suggested. “We can invite Jaemin and Yuta too, bring out the whole quad squad. And maybe uh—what’s Jaemin’s roommate’s name?”</p><p>“Jeno.”</p><p>“Jeno…” He repeated the name, as if to commit it to memory, “Have Jaemin bring Jeno along too.”</p><p>“Sounds like a plan to me,” you agreed. “I’ll make a group chat and text everyone.”</p><p>“Great,” he smiled, a bright grin that always made you feel warm inside. “I’ve got to get going to class, see you.”</p><p>“Bye, Jae.”</p><hr/><p>Monday of the next week found you leaving your World Literature class early, a rarity. Your professor had gotten frustrated about fifteen minutes into his lecture because nobody was answering his questions, mainly due to the fact that none of the students had actually done the required reading for class that day. You’d skimmed the text, but didn’t feel like answering his questions. So in a rage, he dismissed everyone to “give you time to actually read the fucking story” and that he’d finish up the lecture on Wednesday, during which you’d be given a reading quiz as well. Closed book.</p><p>Feeling rather guilty yourself, you left with your head hanging low, fully intending to find a quiet spot on campus to read at. Instead, Mark Lee grabbed your elbow in the hallway just outside the classroom, and you looked back at him with a tilted head. In his other hand was the navy-blue penny board with red wheels that you always saw sticking out the top of his backpack.</p><p>“What’s up, Mark?” You asked as he let you go, falling into step with you.</p><p>“Dr. Kwan was intense today,” he said with wide eyes.</p><p>“Yeah. But I mean, I think we as a class kind of deserved it.”</p><p>“Maybe,” he shrugged. “Anyway, I was going to spend this free time skating before my next class, you want to come?”</p><p>“I’m going to <em>actually</em> do the reading. He gave us the time, the least I can do it utilize it the way he intended us to.”</p><p>“Wow. You’re like… actually a good student, huh?”</p><p>“This conversation explains the very noticeable difference in your grades,” came a musing voice from behind you. You whipped around to see Jaehyun there, looking between you and Mark with an eyebrow raised. He was in his typical TA attire: a pair of dress slacks, button-up shirt cuffed most of the way up his forearms, and a dark belt around his waist. He readjusted his bag strap from where it crossed over his body as he spoke, your eyes briefly focused on the motion.</p><p>Mark chuckled as he adjusted his circular glasses, “Probably. Anyway, I’ll see you later, Y/N! You too, Jaehyun!”</p><p>And with that, your classmate took off down the halls, pushing the front doors of the building open. You watched him run and hop onto his board, skating through the campus. With a fond shake of your head, you started down the hall once more with Jaehyun. Your friend stopped to open the door for you, following you out into the bright sunshine.</p><p>“It’s nice out,” you observed. “I might read out here instead of in the stuffy library.”</p><p>“You should,” Jaehyun agreed, basking in the warm rays as well for a moment. “Alright, I’m going to grab breakfast before my next class.”</p><p>“What class?”</p><p>“Composition I. I’ve got a good lecture for today.”</p><p>“For what professor?”</p><p>“I <em>am</em> the professor. It’s a required General Education course, so they let graduate students teach it by themselves.”</p><p>“How did I <em>not</em> know that?”</p><p>“Don’t know, Y/N,” he patted your shoulder as if giving his condolences for your ignorance. “Anyway, I’ll see you Wednesday!”</p><p>“Bye, Jae,” you waved goodbye to him, still surprised at your own lack of awareness.</p><hr/><p>When a knock came at your apartment door a couple weeks later, you leapt up from your couch immediately. Bending down to pat Taeyong in his cat form, you pressed a peck to his furry forehead, “I’ll see you later! I’ll bring leftovers, okay?”</p><p>He <em>mrow</em>ed in response, knowing that the humans on the other side of your apartment door might be able to hear him.</p><p>Opening your front door, you smiled at your friends in the hallway.</p><p>“I heard Tama!” Jaemin yelled out from behind Yuta and Jaehyun.</p><p>“No!” You quickly slammed the door behind you as Yuta grabbed your best friend to physically hold him back. “Not today, Jaemin.”</p><p>“Fine,” he pouted, but threw his arms around your neck nonetheless. “Hi!”</p><p>“Hey, NaNa,” you chuckled, patting his back and looking around. “Hey, Yuta, Jae. Couldn’t get Jeno to wake up?”</p><p>“I did!” Your friend answered proudly as he let go of you and your group headed for your stairwell. “He’s waiting for us out front. Didn’t want to climb the stairs.”</p><p>“Ah, of course.”</p><p>Regrouping with Jeno—who had been snoozing on a bench outside your apartment building—the five of you headed for Bell Street, and more specifically, Lenticular Café. Surprisingly, when you arrived, the café was <em>packed</em>. There was even a few patrons by the host’s stand waiting to be seated. Renjun was dropping off plates and picking up checks at the same time. He bustled over to the register to make change, not even acknowledging your presence before running to drop the change back off.</p><p>“This is a lot busier than the last time we were here,” Jaemin whistled lowly, looking around.</p><p>“Looks like your flyers worked, Y/N,” Jaehyun patted your shoulder. “Half the people here go to our college.”</p><p>Looking at the patrons’ faces, you realized that he was right. Some were vaguely familiar to you, one even <em>very</em> familiar to you. Catching Mark’s eye, you waved to him, and he eagerly waved back. The man who was sitting across from him turned around to look as well, dark eyebrow raised in interest when he spotted you. Mark set his fork down and stood up, seemingly excusing himself from his companion to walk over to you.</p><p>“Hey, Y/N! Jaehyun, too!” He greeted you all, eyes sparkling. “The food here is seriously <em>so</em> good! And what’s weird is that you don’t even order, they just bring it to you!”</p><p>“I know, Johnny’s that good of a cook, it’s like he can read your mind,” you responded with mirth, briefly glancing over at Renjun, the actual mind reader.</p><p>“You know the cook?”</p><p>“Yeah, he’s a friend. Renjun too.”</p><p>Catching Yuta’s eyes, you figured you should probably make introductions, “Mark, this is Yuta, Jeno, and Jaemin. Guys, this is Mark Lee, we sit together in World Lit.”</p><p>“Y/N, did you forget that we went to the same high school?” Jaemin questioned. “We both had a million classes with Mark.”</p><p>“Right, my bad.”</p><p>Mark tried to hold back his snicker before gesturing towards his table, “Ten and I should be done soon. Hopefully, that’ll help clear up a spot for you guys to be seated in a reasonable amount of time.”</p><p>Right, Ten, his roommate, if you were remembering correctly.</p><p>“Alright, it was good to see you, Mark,” you said. “See you in class.”</p><p>“See you, Mark.” Both Jaehyun and Jaemin gave him their goodbyes, startlingly in sync for a moment.</p><p>Glancing at them briefly, you returned your gaze to the rest of the café to see people from two tables leaving, and Renjun coming back to the host’s stand.</p><p>“I’ll get to you in a minute,” he cut you off as soon as you opened your mouth.</p><p>After seating the two groups who were there ahead of you and popping into the kitchen to grab a few more orders, the Satori finally returned to the front.</p><p>“I’m now regretting telling you to put up all the flyers,” Renjun grumbled to you. “Although, college students do tip <em>very</em> generously.”</p><p>“Comes from being unable to do mental math and having an understanding that people in low-wage jobs should eat and have a roof over their head,” you replied with amusement. “No matter how crass they are.”</p><p>“You calling me crass?”</p><p>“Am I wrong?” You retorted, then did a mental tally of your friends for introductions. “I think the only one you haven’t met yet is Jaehyun. Renjun, this is Jung Jaehyun, and Jaehyun that’s Huang Renjun.”</p><p>“I’m not sure why you think I’d care,” the Satori rolled his eyes.</p><p>“It’s called basic manners, Renjun, you could care to learn some.”</p><p>Jaehyun looked between you and Renjun uncertainly, probably trying to figure out if the two of you were joking or actually being bitchy to each other. Even <em>you</em> didn’t know sometimes.</p><p>A snapping came from a middle-aged man seated at one of the tables, followed by him yelling out, “Hey, kid! Waiter! Check!”</p><p>Renjun took a deep breath, rolled his eyes once more, then pivoted on his heel to attend to the man who had so rudely called him over.</p><p>Soon, the man left, and Renjun guided the five of you over to his empty table. He picked up the check as he seated you all. Scanning the slip of paper, the waiter grumbled, “No tip.”</p><p>Jaemin scooted into one side. And you went to sit beside him. Yuta seemed about ready to follow you, but Jaehyun just edged him out, securing the last seat on your side of the booth. The Kitsune didn’t seem thrilled with who he had to sit by now. Jeno had already tucked himself into the corner of the other side of the booth. You looked between them unquestioningly as Yuta hesitated for another moment. Seemingly realizing that he was going to <em>have</em> to sit next to the Tengu, Yuta wrinkled his nose and did so, sitting as far from Jeno as he could be without falling off the bench.</p><p>Renjun took your drink orders then disappeared into the back for a moment. Taking another look around, it had calmed down considerably since you’d first entered about twenty minutes ago. Which made sense, you had arrived on what seemed to be the tail end of the dinner rush.</p><p>“He’s fucking rude,” Jaemin grumbled, presumably about Renjun. “He shouldn’t have been talking to you like that, Y/N.”</p><p>“It’s fine, Jaemin, we’re friends,” you patted his arm reassuringly.</p><p>“If you say so.”</p><p>“Yeah, I don’t know about that one, Y/N,” Jaehyun agreed from your other side. “He’s… crass, like you said.”</p><p>You shrugged. They didn’t know him like you knew him. Which is to say, deep down, he cared; you remembered when he offered to stay at your place after the Wraith attack to make sure you were safe.</p><p>Renjun returned with your drinks, announcing that your food would be out soon before disappearing to take care of another table.</p><p>“So how was everybody’s weekend?” Your TA friend questioned before taking a sip of his drink.</p><p>“Y/N and I went window shopping!” Jaemin piped up.</p><p>“Yeah, it was so much fun being reminded of the things I can’t buy,” you added sarcastically.</p><p>Yuta asked, “Like what?”</p><p>“There was this ring I thought was really cool until I saw the price tag and it suddenly became the most ugly thing I’d ever seen.”</p><p>Your friends all laughed in agreement, save for Jeno, who hadn’t taken a single sip of his drink since it was set down. He was slumped in the corner of the booth against the wall, head and baseball cap angled so that you couldn’t quite see his face. But you knew what he was doing.</p><p>“He’s asleep, isn’t he?” You asked Yuta, nodding to the Tengu.</p><p>“Definitely,” Yuta confirmed as he peered under the bill of the cap.</p><p>Jeno suddenly jolted awake with a hiss, eyes narrowed behind his glasses, “Ow! Who the fuck kicked me?”</p><p>“Me, bitch,” Jaemin retorted. “Socialize with people or you’re going to die alone.”</p><p>The Tengu scowled at his roommate, but apparently didn’t have a good comeback, instead grabbing his straw to take a few harsh sips of his soda.</p><hr/><p>When you were early done with your food and were mostly chatting, the five of you were the only patrons aside from a college couple in the opposite corner; a stark contrast to how busy it was when you came in. Then you glanced at the time, ten till closing.</p><p>“Oh, shit, we should get going,” you announced, looking around for Renjun.</p><p>He was already coming to your table with the check, “I would have kicked you out as soon as you were done eating, but Johnny said as long as there’s an open table, you can stay.”</p><p>“Well a big thanks to <em>Johnny</em> then,” you said frankly, then pointed to your leftover food. “Could I have a to-go box please?”</p><p>“Yeah, I’ll be back,” he dropped the check on the table before departing from the dining room.</p><p>Jaehyun picked up the check to glance over it as you rifled through the bills in your wallet for your cut. He pushed your hand away when you held out the money, “No, I just got paid. I’ll cover everybody tonight. My treat.”</p><p>“I’m not gonna protest free food,” Jaemin threw his hands up and relaxed back into his seat.</p><p>You frowned, “Can I at least tip?”</p><p>“Yeah, let the rest of us split the tip,” Yuta agreed.</p><p>“Sure.”</p><p>A movement came in your periphery, the rustling of the purple curtain. You looked up at the person coming through, who was much taller than Renjun, and holding two to-go boxes in his hand.</p><p>“Hi Johnny!” You greeted him enthusiastically.</p><p>He looked tired, but smiled down at you nevertheless, “Hey, little lady. As my thank you for passing out all the flyers that attracted most of our customers today, your whole table’s meals are on the house.”</p><p>Jaehyun stopped from where he had been placing his card down with the check, seemingly malfunctioning and short-circuiting for a moment before he withdrew the card back into his wallet. As if for some reason, he couldn’t believe that Johnny would comp your meals.</p><p>“You’re too nice, Johnny! I was happy to help out with the flyers,” you insisted, accepting the to-go boxes from him. But one was a lot heavier and hotter than you expected. Opening the lid, you saw a fresh steaming plate of food inside. When you looked back up at the Domeki, he winked. Ah, he must have known who your leftovers were for. You scooped your own leftovers into the second, empty box.</p><p>“We should still leave a tip for Renjun, lest we piss him off even more than we already are by staying for so long,” you joked, setting your bills down on the tabletop, along with your other friends.</p><p>“There were a lot of people today, Johnny,” Yuta congratulated the man. “Seems like a successful reopening.”</p><p>“It was. I hope we can keep up the draw, though.”</p><p>Jaemin quickly went to reassure him, “With how good your food is, you should have no problem now that people have tried it.”</p><p>“Thank you, Jaemin. It’s good seeing you here again, especially without your meal being interrupted like it was last time.”</p><p>“You’ll definitely be seeing me around here a lot more.”</p><p>“Let me guess, Jeno’s asleep,” Johnny nodded towards the Tengu.</p><p>Jeno quickly flicked his brim up so his eyes and glower could be seen clearly, “No, you guys just weren’t saying anything worth me responding to.”</p><p>Realizing that Jaehyun had yet to say anything either, you quickly went to introduce him, pointing between the men, “Oh! Uh, Jung Jaehyun, Johnny Seo.”</p><p>“Nice to meet you,” Johnny stuck out a hand for him to shake, which he did firmly.</p><p>“You too.”</p><p>“You know what, you look familiar…”</p><p>Jaehyun didn’t seem to have anything to say in return to Johnny’s pondering, so you piped up, “Have you ever gone to Vivi’s Vintage Vinyls a couple streets over on Petal? Jae’s a manager there.”</p><p>“Maybe…” Johnny mused for a moment before shrugging. “I don’t know. I’ll figure it out eventually.”</p><p>“Anyway, we’ll get out of your hair so you guys can close up,” you declared, nudging Jaehyun with your knee for him to start scooting out of the booth.</p><p>Johnny stepped back to let you guys all exit the booth, and you gave him a hug goodbye, “I’ll make sure to be back soon, Johnny.”</p><p>“You better, little lady. I swear Renjun’s getting more insufferable by the day without you around,” Johnny patted your back in the hug, raising his voice pointedly towards the boy who was clearing the table of the couple who’d just left.</p><p>“My levels of perceived insufferableness have nothing to do with Y/N!”</p><p>The Domeki snickered as he let you go, then spoke to all your friends, “It was good seeing and meeting you all. Please come again. But, uh, <em>with</em> money, the next meal won’t be on the house if I want to avoid Renjun’s lectures.”</p><p>“I do <em>not</em> lecture you!”</p><p>With a giggle passing your lips at their friendship, you said, “Bye, Johnny. Bye Renjun!”</p><p>“Bye, little lady, bye everybody!” Johnny gave everyone a friendly wave as Renjun mumbled something over his shoulder.</p><p>“That was seriously good food,” Jaemin was still gushing as you all left the café, much to your amusement. “I swear to god, I’m going to go there at least once a week now.”</p><p>You patted his arm, “I’m sure Johnny would love a regular.”</p><p>At a corner, Yuta had to split off from your group, then Jeno and Jaemin a few blocks later.</p><p>“I’ll walk you the rest of the way to your apartment,” Jaehyun offered. “You’re only a couple blocks over from me anyway.”</p><p>“Thanks, Jae,” you smiled up at him. “So did Johnny look familiar to you too?”</p><p>“Eh, not really.”</p><p>“Maybe he came into your shop once. I’m sure you don’t remember <em>every</em> customer you get.”</p><p>“Considering it’s a vinyl record shop, we don’t get a lot.”</p><p>“Many would argue that vinyls are making a comeback.”</p><p>“I know, I’m one of those people. But still, the shop isn’t <em>booming</em> with business.”</p><p>“If I had a record player, I’d be your number one customer, Jae.”</p><p>“How reassuring, thank you,” he patted your head.</p><p>At a pause in the conversation, your friend took a deep breath and tried to say as nonchalantly as possible, “So… Johnny.”</p><p>“What about him?”</p><p>“He seemed…”</p><p>“Spit it out, Jung Jaehyun, or I’m going to smack it out of you.”</p><p>“He…”</p><p>You gently smacked his chest just like you’d promised, “Say it!”</p><p>“He seems into you.”</p><p>You straight-up <em>laughed</em>, “Oh, no no no, I don’t think so.”</p><p>“<em>I</em> think so. He winked at you!”</p><p>“That’s just who he is, it didn’t mean anything. He’s like,” you took a moment to think up the right words. “He’s like an older brother, or even a <em>dad</em> for fuck’s sake. Kinda like you, Jae.”</p><p>“Hm.”</p><p>“Don’t ‘hm’ me, or I’ll smack you again.”</p><p>“Alright, I concede,” he gave up, to your relief.</p><p>“Good, I was about to threaten to tell my dad you were being mean to me.”</p><p>“You would never.”</p><p>“Try me, Jung.”</p><hr/><p>At your apartment, you stuck your key in your door and turned around to hug your friend, “Thanks, Jaehyun. It was good hanging out not at school.”</p><p>“Yeah, we should definitely do it more often,” he agreed, squeezing you back.</p><p>Pulling away, you went back to your door, unlocking it easily.</p><p>“You know, I don’t remember you locking your door when we left.”</p><p>You weren’t about to tell him that it was locked for you from the inside by your catboy roommate. Trying to keep the panic out of your voice, you snorted, “Don’t fault me for your terrible observation skills.”</p><p>He shrugged, chuckling at himself, “I guess I just didn’t see you do it.”</p><p>“I’ll see you at the quad tomorrow, Jae,” you said as you opened your door.</p><p>“Goodnight, Y/N,” he threw you a dimpled smile before you fully entered your apartment.</p><p>Closing your door behind you, you called out into the apartment, “I’m home!”</p><p>Taeyong’s cat head perked up from behind the arm of the couch, and he immediately turned into his true form upon seeing you alone. You shook the container that was in your hand, “Johnny made you your own special to-go food.”</p><p>Happily, he grabbed the to-go box and took it back to the coffee table, popping it open. You watched him dig with a fond smile on your face. Walking over to him, you patted his head and yawned, “I think I’m going to bed early, Yonggie. See you in the morning.”</p><p>Taeyong hugged you around your legs—the only thing he could reach from his spot on the floor in front of the table, mumbling a <em>‘goodnight’</em> through his mouthful of food.</p><p>“Night,” you scratched behind his ear once before retreating into your bedroom.</p><hr/><p>Monday morning found you furiously taking notes as your professor lectured and Jaehyun sat beside you. When the professor was just lecturing, Jaehyun liked to sit in random seats in the lecture hall with the students. Today, he’d chosen the empty seat that was next to you. Oddly enough, Mark wasn’t in today. Then, the professor finished off the lecture by assigning some questions to you all about analyzing some poems by the poet he had lectured on today. You’d already read the poems, as per the assigned reading on the syllabus, but it made no goddamn sense to you.</p><p>As he dismissed class, you quickly packed up and shouldered your bag with a groan. You were <em>not</em> looking forward to trying to bullshit your way through these questions.</p><p>“Tired, Y/N?” Jaehyun questioned as the two of you left the classroom together.</p><p>“No, dreading this assignment,” you admitted. “How am I supposed to analyze poems when I don’t even know what the fuck they’re saying?”</p><p>“You can come to my TA session on it,” Jaehyun suggested, then added pointedly, “You’ve never come to one before.”</p><p>“Don’t take it as a personal affront, Jae. I’ve never gone because normally shit makes sense to me, but I cannot for the life of me analyze what the <em>fuck</em> this dude is trying to say.”</p><p>“I have a session tonight.”</p><p>You sighed, “What time?”</p><p>“Four to seven.”</p><p>You were supposed to get dinner with Jaemin—who was keeping up his promise of visiting Lenticular Café every week—but he’d understand you having to cancel, “Alright, I can do that.”</p><p>Jaehyun flashed you a dimpled smile, “See you then.”</p><p>Watching him walk off, you pulled out your phone to text Jaemin.</p><p>[you: can’t make it for dinner, study session]</p><p>Jaemin was quick to text back, despite you knowing that he was still in class.</p><p>[jaems: that sucks, how dare you get a good education]</p><p>[you: unlike you, who is texting me in class rn]</p><p>[jaems: prof let us out early, wanna get brunch right now? still at lenticular of course]</p><p>[you: oh of course]</p><p>[you: and sure, yeah, im outside the lit building]</p><p>[you: wait don’t you have another class in less than an hour]</p><p>[jaems: i already planned on skipping today anyway]</p><p>[you: responsibly skipping, i hope]</p><p>[jaems: you know me so well. anyway, i see you!]</p><p>You looked up from your phone screen in time to see Na Jaemin barreling towards you. Letting out an ‘oof’ at the force of the hug, you said, “Hey, NaNa.”</p><p>“Hey, Y/N!” He drew back to grab your wrist. “Now come on!”</p><hr/><p>Reading the numbers on the study rooms you passed, you were looking for 1806, according to the flyer of information Jaehyun had sent out at the beginning of the semester to the whole class. 1800, 1801, 1802, 1803, 1804, 1805, finally, 1806. But when you opened it, there was just a couple making out. With a disinterested eyebrow raised, the girl looked at you for a brief moment before resuming their activity. Cringing at yourself, you quietly shut the door and looked around.</p><p>“Y/N?” Someone whisper-yelled at you from the end of the hallway, and your head snapped around to look at them.</p><p>It was Mark, and you immediately rushed over to him, “Mark, are you going to Jaehyun’s TA session?”</p><p>“Uh, yeah, but it’s not in 1806, he made a typo on the flyer. It’s actually in 1860, the other side of the building.”</p><p>“Oh, well thank god I ran into you.”</p><p>Walking through the library, you conversed quietly with Mark.</p><p>“You haven’t been to any of the sessions, have you?”</p><p>“Obviously not, since I didn’t know where it was.”</p><p>“Right. Anyway, he makes them pretty fun, I’ve gone to a couple before. What brings you to this one?”</p><p>“I have no fucking clue what this poet is trying to say and I almost cried last night trying to figure it out.”</p><p>“Woah, Y/N, it’s not that deep.”</p><p>“I’m a frustrated crier, unfortunately.”</p><p>“I see. Well, the session should make things a lot clearer. We do Kahoots sometimes and he gives prizes to the top three!”</p><p>“What is this, high school history again?”</p><p>“Hey, we’re college students, and college students love free food.”</p><p>“You’re right.”</p><p>“Of course I am.”</p><p>“So why weren’t you in class today?” You asked as you turned down another hallway.</p><p>Mark messed with his glasses for a moment, “Uh, slept through my alarm.”</p><p>The two of you stopped at the door that said ‘1860,’ and Mark pushed it open for you. Jaehyun was standing at the white board towards the front of the room, and the only furniture inside was a conference table and about ten chairs around it. A couple of your other classmates were there as well, both on their phones.</p><p>Jaehyun turned at the sound of the door opening, and suddenly you had tunnel vision. He flashed you a smile over his shoulder, the dimples in his cheeks appearing and his eyes turning into delightful crescents. He had the textbook in one of his hands—one of his rather large, soft-looking hands—and his other gripped a whiteboard marker delicately between his fingers—his rather pretty, long fingers. Somehow, his skin was still glowing in the terrible fluorescent lighting, and the light caught on his brown hair, making some strands reflect back and look golden. His lips—his rather pink, smooth lips—moved, but you weren’t listening to a single word he was saying, your heart thudding way too loudly in your ears to be able to hear.</p><p>Then, two hands were pushing you from behind, knocking you from your reverie.</p><p>“Y/N, <em>move</em>!” Mark grunted teasingly, forcing you to walk further into the room. You had stopped in the doorway, leaving your poor classmate in the hallway.</p><p>Looking down at your feet shamefully, you shuffled further into the room and took a random seat at the table. You were so hyperfocused on getting your supplies out that you didn’t even notice Jaehyun had made his way over to you until one of his large, warm hands was on your shoulder.</p><p>Your head snapped up to look at him, wide-eyed with your newfound, uncontrollable panic.</p><p>“I <em>said</em>, I’m surprised you actually came,” Jaehyun teased you, most likely repeating whatever he had said when you’d entered. He leaned against the table beside you, leg momentarily touching your arm until you jerked your limb away and into your lap.</p><p>“Ha… yep, I did,” you squeaked out, quickly looking back down at your textbook. You could feel how hot your cheeks were, and they were surely a noticeable shade of pink as well.</p><p>“No smartass comeback?” He questioned, leaning even closer to peer down at you. “Are you sure you’re Y/N?”</p><p>The proximity of his face to yours only served to ramp up your anxiety, and you hurried to scoot your chair back from him.</p><p>“Ow!” Mark hissed from your other side. “I think you broke my toe, Y/N.”</p><p>“Sorry,” you muttered, even more embarrassment flushing your skin.</p><p>Jaehyun once again spoke to you, teasing entirely replaced by concern, “Are you okay, Y/N?”</p><p>“Fine, tired is all.”</p><p>“I don’t have any coffee but I have green tea, and that’s got caffeine. I’ve only taken a sip, you can have the rest if you—”</p><p>“No! No, no, I’m fine,” you rejected the idea maybe a little too quickly and too forcefully. For some reason, the idea of drinking from the same cup that Jaehyun just had made you nauseous. And not in a germophobic way but in a butterflies-in-your-stomach kind of way. Except you were pretty sure you had giant, flesh-eating, acid-spitting moths in your intestines instead.</p><p>“Okay, okay,” he held his hands up in surrender, moving back towards the front of the room.</p><p>Finally, you could breathe steadily again as he returned to writing on the whiteboard. A few more people filtered in, then Jaehyun began the study session.</p><p>All throughout the three hours you were there, you fluctuated between a state of being way too transfixed on Jaehyun that you didn’t hear a single word he said, or way too fixated on pretending to take notes to prevent yourself from staring at him that you didn’t hear a single word he said. You were faking writing notes once again when there was a sudden tap on your arm.</p><p>“Huh?” You looked to Mark, the person who had tapped you.</p><p>He nodded towards the front of the room. To Jaehyun, specifically.</p><p>“Y/N, how about you answer this one?” Jaehyun encouraged you gently.</p><p>You hadn’t heard the question and having his attention on you once again opened up the floodgates of panicking. You could only stutter and stammer for a solid five seconds before saying, “I don’t—I don’t know.”</p><p>“Oh… okay, that’s okay,” he reassured you kindly. “Mark, maybe you can help her out?”</p><p>And as Mark rambled off some answer, you sunk down in your seat in shame, letting your head drop into your hands. You didn’t bring it back out of your hands, simply repeating the mortifying moment you’d just experienced over and over again, your mind turning it to slow-motion when you looked at Jaehyun before returning to normal speed upon replaying it. Until someone shook your arm. Expecting it to be Mark, you peeked over at him. It wasn’t.</p><p>Jaehyun was squatting beside your chair, on the side that Mark had just been on, eye-level with you. Upon seeing that you were looking at him, he flashed you that same gentle smile that made your heart beat out of your chest.</p><p>“Hey,” he said softly. “Have a nice nap?”</p><p>“I wasn’t napping…” you murmured in your defense, looking around the room. It was empty, the session had ended without you even noticing.</p><p>Pushing your chair back to stand up, you put all your stuff away quickly, hoping to hurry out of there as soon as possible. Without Jaehyun. Except he was right there beside you, his stride easily much longer than yours. You couldn’t outpace him.</p><p>Accepting your own personal failure tonight, you breathed out, “Jae, I feel so bad but that still didn’t make sense to me.”</p><p>“You seemed distracted, Y/N.”</p><p>“I was.”</p><p>His gaze was practically burning into your skin as he asked curiously, “Is something wrong?”</p><p>Ears blushing pink as you remembered the exact moment you’d walked in and this had all suddenly washed over you, you let out a sigh from deep inside, “Yeah, but…”</p><p>“But…?”</p><p>“I can’t tell you about it,” you shook your head. No way you were about to tell him that you were distracted because of <em>him</em>.</p><p>“Okay,” Jaehyun seemed to accept this, concern still in his voice as he continued. “You don’t have to tell me anything, but I’m all ears if you ever want to, okay?”</p><p>“Thanks, Jae.”</p><p>“Are you sure that’s it? The only reason you were distracted? You said you were tired, so was something else on your mind?” He asked, and you momentarily panicked. Was he onto you? You had to abort this conversation immediately.</p><p>“Nope, no, that’s it, just that one thing that’s wrong that I can’t tell you about,” the words sped out of your mouth at a record speed, and you’d be surprised if he actually understood everything you’d just said. “Anyway, gotta go feed my cat, bye!”</p><p>While you practically ran away from him, Jaehyun called out after you, “Uh, okay, bye Y/N!”</p><p>As soon as you were off campus, you made a sharp right turn. There was only one person you could bear to talk about this with.</p><hr/><p>You were practically busting down Na Jaemin’s apartment door with how hard you were knocking, not caring if you bothered any of his neighbors. They were the last thing on your mind. The first—and only—thing on your mind right then was Jung Jaehyun.</p><p>As you pounded on the door once more, it was flung open, and you narrowly stopped your fist from impacting with Jaemin’s face. He was wearing his pajamas, and something was paused on the TV. You’d clearly interrupted his show.</p><p>“Holy shit, Y/N, I thought you were the police or something,” he shook his head, stepping back to allow you in. “What are you—”</p><p>“Fuck dude, I’m fucked,” you blurted out.</p><p>“Why?” Jaemin followed you into his living room, where you immediately started pacing with worry.</p><p>“Jaehyun’s hot.”</p><p>“Have you been blind for your entire life and you were just magically cured? He’s <em>always</em> been hot.”</p><p>“I <em>know</em>.”</p><p>“So why is it a problem now?”</p><p>“I <em>don’t</em> know,” you groaned out, about ready to start crying with how frustrated you were.</p><p>Your friend smiled knowingly, putting his hands on his hips as he announced, “Ah, I see, you’ve got SCS.”</p><p>You stopped in your tracks to look at him incredulously, <em>“What?”</em></p><p>“Sudden Crush Syndrome.”</p><p>
  <em>“What?”</em>
</p><p>“It’s when you suddenly realize one day that someone’s hot and you get a crush on them. Symptoms include nervousness, heart racing and/or fluttering, daydreaming, sweaty palms, knees weak, mom’s spaghetti,” he ticked off the supposed symptoms on his fingers. “Typically affects teenagers and romantically stunted adults.”</p><p>“Hey!”</p><p>He snickered, “Sorry, Y/N, you’re easy.”</p><p>“<em>Hey!</em>” You scowled at him. “I have a feeling this isn’t an actual diagnosis that you learn about as a Psych major.”</p><p>“No.” Jaemin plopped down on his couch to look up at you, “So what are you going to do about it?”</p><p>“Ignore it until it goes away,” you immediately answered. It was the only option.</p><p>“And so you prove me right.”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“When I called you a romantically st—”</p><p><em>“Ugh!”</em> You screeched out, cutting him off. “It’s not like I haven’t done anything <em>ever</em>, I’ve kissed someone, and I’ve lost my virginity!”</p><p>“I know. But you’ve only had one <em>romantic relationship</em> before in your life and it was in middle school,” he reminded you of your past romantic failure.</p><p>“Don’t make me think about him.”</p><p>“You still can’t even say his name!”</p><p>“Because it was over-all a terrible and cringey experience that I do not wish to relive.”</p><p>“Jaehyun is neither terrible nor cringey,” he pointed out.</p><p>“I’m aware,” you retorted frankly. That was part of your problem.</p><p>“You’re afraid to—”</p><p>“I’m not <em>afraid to love</em>, Jaemin. I wasn’t <em>wounded</em> from that relationship; it was like seven weeks long and we didn’t do more than hold hands. He moved away and that was that.”</p><p>Jaemin waited for you to finish before returning to his point, “I was <em>going</em> to say that you’re afraid to <em>be in a relationship</em> because you’ve never really had a long-term romantic relationship that went past holding hands and you’re now an adult who is ashamed of how romantically inexperienced you are and going through all of that for the first time would almost feel burdensome at this point to you and it’s easier for you in the short-term to avoid it.”</p><p>His words hit you like a fucking lead train, knocking the wind from you, “Ouch, I think you hit way too close to home on that one.”</p><p>“I’m your best friend, I practically have a PhD in Y/N’s Love Life. Or, Y/N’s Non-Existent Love Life.”</p><p>“I’m going to punch you in the nose one of these days, Na Jaemin,” you swore to him.</p><p>“You already have.”</p><p>Flopping down on the couch beside him, you warned, “I’ll do it again.”</p><p>You friend turned to face you, “Anyway, I think you should shoot your shot.”</p><p>“Cool, I don’t.”</p><p>“You two would be such a cute couple!”</p><p>“Oh my god don’t give my brain any ideas,” you groaned, but it was too late. Suddenly all you could imagine was holding Jaehyun’s hand—his warm, big, soft hands—and sitting on your couch cuddling and watching movies and—<b><em>UGH!</em></b></p><p>You had to stop.</p><p>“I’ll be your dude of honor at the Y/L/N-Jung wedding, right?”</p><p>Letting out a screech, you kicked him in the shin, hard.</p><p>“Ouch! Fuck, you get violent when confronted with your own romantic feelings. Noted.”</p><p>“I’m not one of your children that you psychoanalyze, Na Jaemin,” you reminded him fiercely. “I’m your friend.”</p><p>“My best friend,” he corrected you, gently resting a hand on your forearm. “I’m sorry, Y/N. I just want what’s best for you, you know?”</p><p>“And you really think Jae is what’s best for me?”</p><p>“I do.”</p><hr/><p>The next day was a Tuesday, and you could breathe again. No World Literature, no Jaehyun, no SCS. Just school. Nice, boring, plain old school. You were even excited for <em>Calculus</em> somehow. And you thought you were safe, that things were returning to normal, until your phone buzzed as you left the dining hall for your Abnormal Psychology class. As per usual, you checked your notifications, and your throat seized up.</p><p>[jaehyun: i’ve been thinking that maybe part of the reason you couldn’t focus at the study session was because there were other students? and i’m sorry for putting you on the spot last night, so would you be able to study tonight? just you and me, less pressure]</p><p>“<em>‘Less pressure,’</em> my ass,” you mumbled sarcastically to yourself.</p><p>But your friend was offering to do something nice for you, to help you, and you really did need the help. The analysis questions were due tomorrow and you still had absolutely no clue what the poems were saying. Not even online analyses could unblock your mind on these, you’d tried.</p><p>[you: yeah, what time?]</p><p>[jaehyun: my shift ends at six today, i can bring dinner]</p><p>[you: sounds good, thanks]</p><hr/><p>At your apartment that afternoon, you were greeted by Taeyong’s typical hug and scenting ritual.</p><p>“Hey, bud,” you squeezed him back. “Jae’s coming over later to study, so you’ve got to be my pet cat Tama for tonight, okay?”</p><p>Taeyong pulled back to wrinkle his nose, “Fine.”</p><p>“Thank you.”</p><p>To keep your mind off your worries of seeing Jaehyun one-on-one, you busied yourself with tidying up your apartment: clearing off your coffee table and end table, folding the blankets over the arm of the couch, fluffing the pillows and cushions of your couch, picking up miscellaneous things that were strewn about your living room and kitchen, clearing up your bathroom counter and making sure there was no hair on the wall of your shower. You grabbed your schoolbag and brought it over to the couch, pulling out your textbook and notebook to set them up on your coffee table.</p><p>Checking the time once again, you saw that it was only four. Over two hours until Jaehyun was supposed to arrive. So, in another attempt to distract yourself from your internal panic, you turned on your show that you and Taeyong had been watching unintentionally—then intentionally—together. He laid down on the couch in his true form, resting his head on your thighs. You absentmindedly pet his head like you would if he were a cat. But it still wasn’t enough to keep your mind away from your thoughts. They’d gone back to the ones you’d imagined last night at Jaemin’s, of holding Jaehyun’s hand, cuddling together, just small acts of intimacy. And it was nice but squeezed regretfully at your chest. You <em>couldn’t</em>.</p><p>But <em>why</em> couldn’t you?</p><p>You frowned as you thought this over, ruminating on Jaemin’s words. It was annoying having him psychoanalyze you like that, but that didn’t make him any less right. You were wary of having a romantic relationship, especially since you were so inexperienced in that area. And as you thought back in your memories, you couldn’t remember a time in your life that Jaehyun <em>didn’t</em> have a girlfriend, until now. Admittedly, you were only family friends, you hadn’t seen him <em>that</em> frequently, and kept up with his love life even less. Surely there were periods of his life where he was single for an extended amount of time. But you couldn’t fathom up one of those moments yourself. When you were in elementary school, you supposed, but he still had girls confessing to him weekly even then.</p><p>As you were still pondering this, there was a firm knock at your door.</p><p>“Shit!” You cursed, jumping in your seat.</p><p>Taeyong paused the TV for you before promptly turning into a cat and hopping off your lap. You shot to your feet and shook your head to clear your mind as you rushed for the door. Throwing it open, you were greeted by the tall figure of Jaehyun. He was in his casual attire that he wore at the shop, his own bag slung over his shoulder and a plastic bag in his hand.</p><p>“Hey, you didn’t reply to my texts when I asked what you wanted, or when I said I was on my way,” he stepped in as you stepped back, closing the door behind him. “So I just went to Lenticular and got takeout. I let Johnny know I was getting something for you too, so if you don’t like it, it’s not my fault. He also gave me three entrees, said something about you probably needing leftovers.”</p><p>Jaehyun set his school bag down on the couch, then the food on the table. Taking the food out, you were actually able to laugh when you saw that they were <em>emoji tupperwares</em>.</p><p>“Johnny said you can bring them back to him when you’re done with them,” your friend added as you scanned the options.</p><p>The raw tuna tartare was definitely Taeyong’s, so you grabbed that container to put in the fridge. Walking back over to your couch, you finally spoke, “Sorry about missing your texts, I was watching a show.”</p><p>“I see,” he gestured to your screen, where it was still paused.</p><p>“Oh, right,” you swiftly turned the TV off and took your seat in the corner of the couch again. “Thanks for getting dinner, Jae. And helping me out with this.”</p><p>“Of course,” he gave you a soft smile. “Let’s eat first and chat, then we’ll start studying. Sound good?”</p><p>“Sure, yeah.”</p><p>And surprisingly, you were able to hold a conversation with him. Sure, your heart was still beating faster than it should, you would trip over the occasional word here and there, and you couldn’t quite look him in the eye, but you were actually having a real conversation that you weren’t trying to get out of as soon as possible. You’d even made him laugh a couple times, the sound and visual accompanying it making the giant, flesh-eating, acid-spitting moths in your stomach flutter in delight.</p><p>Once you’d both finished your food, you set it aside to get down to business: the poems.</p><p>Grabbing your textbook, you realized that you’d have to move Taeyong now. He’d been curled up in your lap, keeping a suspicious eye on Jaehyun while the two of you had been eating. He wasn’t too much in your way then, so you didn’t mind him. But now you actually needed your lap space.</p><p>“Excuse me, Tama,” you gently nudged him, his old cat name feeling like a foreign word in your mouth now. “I need my lap now, bub.”</p><p>He let out a disgruntled <em>mrow</em> before leaping off of you and stalking around the room until he could elegantly jump up onto the other side of the couch, sitting on that arm instead. His blue eyes never left you, though, continuing to observe you and Jaehyun. You rolled your eyes; hopefully he’d loosen up.</p><p>“Alright, let’s start with the first assigned poem, ‘The Tyger,’” Jaehyun suggested, and you flipped to the right page.</p><p>“He couldn’t even spell ‘tiger’ right, why am I supposed to care about what he says?” You complained.</p><p>“Because Dr. Kwan says you should, and your grade depends on caring about what William Blake says.”</p><p>“Fine.”</p><p>First, Jaehyun read the poem aloud, and you found yourself in a near trance by the lulling sound of his calm voice so articulately reciting it. When he looked up from his book to you after finishing it, you were pulled from your dreamy state. Unfortunately, you still didn’t know what the poem was <em>actually</em> supposed to be telling you.</p><p>“I like the way you read,” you said without thinking, immediately rushing to change the subject. “It’s deeper than just talking about a tiger, isn’t it?”</p><p>“Yeah,” Jaehyun nodded, and launched into an explanation.</p><p>He was a good teacher when you were actually paying attention: balancing telling you information and having you figure out things or come to your own conclusions on things. Sure enough, minute by minute, poem by poem, question by question, you’d finished your poem analysis sheet from your professor.</p><p>Dropping your pencil down onto your coffee table in victory, you let out a deep-seated groan of satisfaction. Stretching your back over the arm of the couch, you breathed out, “Finally! Done! Complete!”</p><p>“Nice job, Y/N!” Jaehyun complimented you, setting his copy of the textbook aside.</p><p>You moved your book and notebook to the table as well, leaning forward with your elbows on your knees to beam at him, “Thank you so much for helping me, Jaehyun.”</p><p>“Of course, any time you need.”</p><p>He was cross-legged to face you, and it was then that you noticed your knees were close enough to be bumping against each other. You were on separate cushions, but they dipped and only served to bring you closer to the other. It was a heavy moment, overwhelmingly silent as the two of you just looked at each other. The adrenaline of finally finishing that godforsaken assignment was still coursing through your veins, and you had tunnel vision on Jung Jaehyun once again.</p><p>Maybe you went in first and maybe Jaehyun went in first. Either way, your mouths were locked on each other, your legs falling open to allow him to settle between them, pressing you against the arm of the couch. One of his hands was on the side of your head, the other gripping at your thigh. How nice it felt, to finally have his big, warm, soft hands on you. You wrapped your arms around his neck as you let him kiss you with such ferocity that you could barely do much to reciprocate.</p><p>Jaehyun started kissing down your neck, and you let out a sigh that turned into a moan as he found a spot to start sucking a mark onto. Curling your fingers through his hair, you angled your head to allow him more space to work. You creeped a hand under his shirt to feel the expanse of his back under your touch, fluttering your eyelashes open. Through a half-lidded gaze, you met eyes with a pair of cobalt blues. Taeyong was staring at you wide-eyed, horrified at the sight in front of him. Your own eyes flew open fully, mortification coursing through your veins as you immediately came to the realization of the situation you were in.</p><p>“Ah, uh, Jae- Jaehyun, hold on,” you lightly pushed at his shoulders, and he immediately ceased, sitting up to look at you with concern.</p><p>“I’m sorry, Y/N, if that was—”</p><p>“No, Jae, it’s fine,” you desperately went to reassure him as you scrambled into a sitting position. “It’s just… weird for me, with the cat watching.”</p><p>You gestured to where Taeyong was perched in his cat form on the other arm of the couch, and you added on a hushed, “Sorry…”</p><p>Jaehyun chuckled, rubbing at the back of his neck sheepishly, “I get it, don’t worry about it.”</p><p>“I still feel bad…” You muttered, chest still heaving.</p><p>He checked his watch, “You know what, good timing anyway, I was supposed to uh, do something.”</p><p>As he stood up and rushed to pack up his things, you fidgeted with fixing your hair and clothes.</p><p>“Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow morning, Jae,” you followed him to the front door to show him out.</p><p>“Bye, Y/N.”</p><p>He went in for a hug, and it was an awkward hug, the both of you now extremely stiff, him patting your back almost robotically with one hand, his other on the door handle, and you didn’t even give him a firm squeeze or rub of his back like you normally would. Instead, you let go as soon as he even <em>twitched</em> a single muscle fiber in the direction of the door.</p><p>Not another word was exchanged between you two as he opened the door and left your apartment. Locking the door behind him, your chest filled with humiliation and dread as you then turned around. Taeyong was in the same spot, now in his true form. The horror on his face registered even more clearly with human features, only adding to the uncomfortably hot patches of skin popping up along your body.</p><p>“I am so sorry, Taeyong, I forgot you were there and—” You apologized profusely, but he cut you off.</p><p>“Y/N, do you feel any different?” He questioned, and you were taken aback. Was he asking…? No, he meant something else.</p><p>“Other than absolutely mortified at what just happened? No,” you answered, relieved that he apparently wasn’t going to address that whole situation.</p><p>“Your powers, they’re activated.”</p><p>You blinked in disbelief. This is definitely not where you thought that this conversation was going.</p><p>“What? Really?”</p><p>He nodded, then pointed to your neck, “Go look in the mirror.”</p><p>You slapped a hand over where Jaehyun had been sucking a hickey into your skin, “Taeyong, I know—”</p><p>“No, the <em>back</em> of your neck!” Taeyong scowled at the wall behind your head, “Not where he was just—”</p><p>He cut himself off, clearly not wanting to even say what he had just unwillingly witnessed. His eyes dropped to look at the floor instead.</p><p>“Oh,” you mumbled, making a beeline for your bathroom.</p><p>Angling your two mirrors, you were able to properly see the back of your neck. And there definitely was something there. A blooming lotus flower inked on with a black so dark you’d never think it possible to get that level of pigment on human skin.</p><p>“What is this, Taeyong?”</p><p>“Your bond mark,” he replied. “An Onmyoji will share a bond mark with their five True Ayakashi.”</p><p>Looking at himself in the mirror, you could see his face drop. His neck was still bare.</p><p>“What are—”</p><p>“Jungwoo will be able to tell you more about it than me,” Taeyong added, moving his gaze from the mirror to his feet. “He’s a lot older, he knows all sorts of Ayakashi stuff.”</p><p>“I’ll go visit the shrine tomorrow then,” you declared. “You want to come?”</p><p>“Maybe, sure, yeah,” he answered, still not meeting your eyes.</p><hr/><p>Taeyong still slept at the foot of your bed that night, but in the furthest corner away from you that he could get, and you couldn’t blame him for it. You laid awake staring into the darkness as you replayed the mortifying event over and over again until you fell asleep.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. [two]</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The next morning, you woke up still dead tired. You’d had a restless night of sleep, waking up to cringe then fall back asleep. Repeat approximately a thousand times. You weren’t woken up by your alarm, but instead by the sun streaming through your windows. Odd, it was usually dark when you woke up for your 8 a.m. class.</p><p>Checking your phone, you saw that it was 7:30.</p><p><em>“Shit!”</em> You screeched, throwing your blanket off you to scramble out of bed. You usually <em>left</em> at 7:30.</p><p>Grabbing a change of clothes, you ran to the bathroom to change and brush your hair, leaving your pajamas on the floor in there. The mark from Jaehyun was still on your neck, giving you pause for just a moment as you looked at how much it had darkened. Then you ran out of the bathroom and to your living room to throw a random pair of shoes on.</p><p>“Taeyong! Johnny made you food last night, it’s in the fridge! See you after class to go to the shrine, okay bye!” You yelled into your apartment as you shoveled your supplies that were left out last night into your bag and fled.</p><p>After running down the sidewalks and through the subway, then across your campus, you finally made it to your World Literature classroom only a minute before it was supposed to start. You made quite a ruckus flinging the door open, making everyone who was in there look over to you for a split-second before immediately returning to whatever they were doing. You were sure that you had a wild look in your eye with your hair a mess, and you were breathing heavy. But at least you weren’t late.</p><p>Jaehyun was speaking with your professor at the front of the room, and you made eye contact for just a second before looking away and hurrying to your seat.</p><p>“Long night? Wake up late?” Mark asked as you plopped down beside him, mischief in his tone.</p><p>It took you a moment to realize what he was talking about. You cursed at yourself for not grabbing a hoodie or something that would cover up the hickey.</p><p>“Yeah, something like that,” you muttered, bringing out your analysis questions.</p><p>“So that’s why you didn’t come in with Jaehyun.”</p><p>You nearly snapped your neck with how hard you spun your head to look at him with wide eyes. How did he know?</p><p>At the surely crazed look in your eyes, your classmate further explained, “Because you woke up late you weren’t able to meet up with him wherever you guys meet up at and walk in together. Right?”</p><p>Your body physically relaxed at this, “Oh, yeah, right.”</p><p>Having finally <em>stopped</em>, you could check your phone notifications. Several private chats, and a couple in your ‘Quad Squad’ group chat asking where you were. You clicked on your safest bet: your private chat with Jaemin.</p><p>[jaems: are you dead or something?]</p><p>[jaems: or are you skipping without telling me? we could’ve gone to the beach again together! or whenever you see this today, i don’t really care]</p><p>[you: no, slept through my alarm]</p><p>Then you went to reply to Johnny’s text.</p><p>[johnny: i don’t know if jaehyun told you, but i just want to make sure you know that you can return the tupperwares whenever you’re done using them!]</p><p>Shit, you had dirty tupperwares in your sink to take care of. And hopefully Taeyong would eat his while you were at school today so you could wash them and give them back to your friend as soon as possible.</p><p>[you: i’m disappointed but not surprised that you have emoji printed tupperwares]</p><p>[johnny: it’s called having taste, actually]</p><p>[you: you have the taste of a seven year old]</p><p>[you: anyway, i’ll bring them back as soon as possible]</p><p>[johnny: sounds good]</p><p>At the sound of Dr. Kwan’s voice, you put your phone away to listen. He rambled on about something as Jaehyun filed up and down the rows, collecting everyone’s assignment. You nervously counted down the number of students left until he got to you, planning out exactly how you were going to give him your paper to appear the most unbothered and not awkward as you possibly could in your mind. When he was in front of you, you froze for a split second, paper in your fingers. His eyes were locked on the mark on your neck and you slammed the paper down on top of the stack quickly. Mark handed Jaehyun his paper as well, then the TA continued down the rows.</p><p>You slumped forward, dropping your head to your desk.</p><p>“Oh, you’ve got <em>two</em> new marks, Y/N,” Mark commented quietly, excitement clear in his voice.</p><p>Sitting up pin-straight in your seat, you couldn’t think up a good excuse, but he simply chuckled.</p><p>“I’m the only one in here who can see it,” he reassured you before leaning closer to you to whisper. “I’m an Onmyoji too.”</p><p>“You are?”</p><p>“Yeah, you want to see mine?”</p><p>You nodded, and he turned around for you. Just peeking over the collar of his shirt was the head and mane of a lion. Just from what you could see, it was elegant and strong, a black color just as deep as yours. Your finger graced over just the outer edges of the mane for a moment before you withdrew your hand.</p><p>A throat was suddenly cleared from the front of the room, and you sat back up straight in your seat. To your surprise, Jaehyun was at the lecture podium, his eyes boring straight into you. Feeling guilty for some unknown reason, you dropped your eyes to your notebook and picked up your pencil. Then you remembered that he’d excitedly mentioned last night that he’d be doing his first lecture for your class tomorrow. Which is now today. Right now.</p><p>He was lecturing on the next topic: the rise of the merchant class in the Tokugawa period of Japan and its influence on the arts, in order to contextualize your next assigned reading, a play from that time period. Just like last night, Jaehyun was a good teacher, lecturing clearly and providing all the necessary information. You actually took good notes this time, and felt somewhat prepared to do your next assigned reading by the end of the class.</p><p>Dr. Kwan thanked Jaehyun for lecturing, then dismissed the class for the day. Packing up your materials, you had a renewed sense of relaxation from the normalcy of your routine falling back into place.</p><p>“I like Jaehyun’s lectures way more than Dr. Kwan’s,” Mark admitted quietly, leaning in toward you almost conspiratorially, to make sure your professor didn’t hear him.</p><p>“It was good,” you agreed, keeping your voice low. “Why don’t you tell Jae? I’m sure he’ll be happy to hear it.”</p><p>“Yeah, of course, looks like I’ve got the chance right now.”</p><p>Looking up from zipping your bag, you saw Jaehyun standing at the front of your row, clearly waiting for the two of you. Well, actually, probably just for you, but having someone else there would help make it less awkward. Hopefully.</p><p>Grabbing the back of Mark’s bag to make sure he didn’t leave you, you walked up to Jaehyun, giving him as casual of a greeting as you could, “Hey, Jaehyun.”</p><p>“Hey Y/N, Mark,” he nodded to the both of you, fidgeting momentarily with his tie. He didn’t normally wear a tie to class, he must have dressed up extra fancy to lecture. “What’d you think?”</p><p>“It was really good, Jaehyun!” Mark exalted him sincerely. “Seriously, I was kind of hooked, and I usually think history is <em>so</em> boring.”</p><p>“I’m glad I could make it interesting for you, then,” Jaehyun smiled at the boy as he began to lead the way out of the room. Then he was looking at you expectantly.</p><p>“Oh, uh, yeah, it was good,” you echoed Mark.</p><p>“Thanks.”</p><p>There was a brief pause between the three of you, then both you and Jaehyun blurted out at the same time,</p><p><em>“Y/N, we should talk.”</em> “I’ve got to go study!”</p><p>Mark looked between the two of you with wide eyes. But you didn’t stay to hear Jaehyun repeat it clearly this time, taking off down the hallways. Cowardice was the easiest way out, obviously.</p><p>Thankfully, he didn’t chase after you. Or if he did, you were able to weave through the crowds much easier and lost him. With your stomach growling, you were reminded of the fact that you didn’t have breakfast this morning. Except Jaehyun usually went to the dining hall after World Literature. Taking a sharp left away from it, you spotted someone familiar just ahead of you.</p><p>Yuta had spotted you as well, smiling at you in acknowledgement. He slowed to stop and talk to you, “Hey, where were you this morning?”</p><p>“Oh my god, I want to die,” you spouted out with a groan.</p><p>His eyebrows shot up with surprise, and he took hold of your elbow to gently guide you to a more secluded corner of campus.</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>“Jaehyun was over last night and we- we almost—”</p><p>He could immediately surmise, “Woah, you two almost slept together?”</p><p>“Yeah, but <em>that’s</em> not that problem,” you insisted. “Taeyong was—”</p><p>“Pretty kitty was there?” He gasped, caught between delight and sympathetic horror.</p><p>“On the other end of the couch, watching. I literally almost cried from embarrassment.”</p><p>Much to your chagrin, Yuta was howling with laughter, clutching onto your shoulder for support as he chortled and cackled his lungs out.</p><p>Despite him clearly enjoying it, you kept expanding on your misery, “Now Yong and I can’t look each other in the eye, and everything is super awkward with Jaehyun since I made him stop.”</p><p>Yuta sobered up enough to participate in the conversation somewhat, “Awkward for you or for him?”</p><p>“I think it’s me, mostly, but I also think that he thinks that I made him stop because I’m not into him, or he thinks that I think he was rushing it or pressuring me or something, which he wasn’t, I <em>was</em> into it but…”</p><p>“But you had a voyeur,” he finished your sentence.</p><p>“A <em>very</em> unwilling voyeur, mind you.”</p><p>“That’s a whole lot of assumptions there, Y/N. Just talk to him. He doesn’t bite. Metaphorically, because judging by the gnarly spot on your neck, it seems like he does literally…”</p><p>You smacked away his finger that was reaching out to poke at your hickey, glaring at him, “I don’t know why I told you this.”</p><p>“Because you couldn’t tell Jaemin about the real reason it was mortifying for your cat to be in the room, and you’re not nearly close enough to the other Ayakashi to be willing to tell them about your sex life,” he retorted easily.</p><p>“Am I really that open of a book? You and Jaemin seem to know more about my psyche than I do.”</p><p>Yuta simply reminded you, “We’re both Psych majors, Y/N.”</p><p>“Right,” you grumbled and crossed your arms. “I can’t stand Psych majors who think they know everything.”</p><p>“Well apparently we <em>do</em>, at least when it comes to you.”</p><p>“Ugh…”</p><p>“Just talk to him, Y/N.”</p><p>Knowing that your friend was right, and you couldn’t avoid this forever—well, maybe you <em>could</em>, but you <em>shouldn’t</em>—you sighed, “Yeah, yeah, I will.”</p><p>“Good,” he mussed up your hair affectionately.</p><p>“And you’re not going to tell Jae that I told you any of this, right?”</p><p>“Zenko’s honor.”</p><p>“I don’t know what that means.”</p><p>“I’m a Zenko, remember? The good kind of Kitsune, very honorable. So if I’m swearing on my honor as a Zenko, it’s a strong oath.”</p><p>“Alright…” you nodded, now able to breathe easy once more.</p><p>“Also, you have your bond mark now.”</p><p>“Oh! Yeah, yeah, I do.”</p><p>“Lucky. I got nothing yet.”</p><p>“Ah,” you cleared your throat awkwardly. “So, where are you headed?”</p><p>“Next class, Human Factors Psychology.”</p><p>“Sounds thrilling.”</p><p>“It is,” he grinned. “See you, Y/N!”</p><p>“Bye, Yuta,” you waved your friend off before stretching out your neck.</p><p>Your stomach growled, reminding you of your lack of breakfast from that morning. Typically, you didn’t like to leave campus once you were there if you had later classes—too easy to just skip your afternoon class—but there was no way you’d take the chance of going to the dining hall. So instead, you stepped off campus, another dining destination in mind.</p><hr/><p>The closed sign was still flipped around on the door of Lenticular Café when you got there, they didn’t open until 10:00, and it was only 9:45. Nevertheless, you tried the handle to the door. Unlocked. Nobody was in the dining room, but you could hear voices in the kitchen. They immediately stopped when the bell above the door jingled.</p><p>Renjun came out of the back, rearing up for a fight already, “We’re not open— oh, it’s you.”</p><p>“I know you’re not open, but I didn’t eat breakfast this morning,” you said in a rather defeated voice.</p><p>Then Johnny pushed the curtain aside, “Hey, little lady, I thought I heard you. Come into the kitchen, I’ll make you something.”</p><p>As they both turned for you to follow them, you caught sight of something large and black on the backs of both their necks, something you couldn’t remember being there the last time you’d seen them.</p><p>“W-what are those?” You were frozen to the spot as your friends faced you once more.</p><p>“You’ve got one too, right?” Renjun asked.</p><p>You nodded.</p><p>“So you know that we’re both two of your True Ayakashi.”</p><p>You nodded.</p><p>“Then why are you asking what they are if you already know?”</p><p>“Leave the little lady alone, Renjun,” the Domeki chastised the younger Ayakashi. “She just got her powers, I’m sure this is all a bit stunning for her. Come on, we’ll talk about it while I cook for you.”</p><p>So you followed Johnny into the kitchen, eyes glued to the lotus blossom spread across the back of his neck. He pulled up the stool for you, then went to the fridge to pull out a carton of eggs.</p><p>“How do you like your eggs?”</p><p>“Sunny-side up.”</p><p>He hummed as he cracked the eggs into the already heated skillet that was sitting on the stove. As the eggs immediately began to sizzle, he asked, “What do you know?”</p><p>“I supposedly have five True Ayakashi who have the same thing on their necks, and that’s all Taeyong could tell me. I’m seeing Jungwoo about it later today.”</p><p>“Do you know what True Ayakashi are?”</p><p>“No clue.”</p><p>“An Onmyoji—that’s you—can control and channel the powers of any Ayakashi they can find. But their five <em>True</em> Ayakashi are the ones that their spirit is bonded to, so if they were to channel their powers, it’d be a lot more powerful than plucking some random Ayakashi off the street and channeling theirs. Does that make sense?”</p><p>“Like how Eddie Brock was the perfect host for Venom.”</p><p>“Yeah, I suppose,” Johnny nodded. “Except we’re not going to… be existing in the same body or have any of that kind of body horror. We will remain in our own bodies and nobody else’s.”</p><p>“I didn’t mean literally.”</p><p>“Just making sure,” he held his hands up before adjusting the heat of the stove. “Any questions?”</p><p>“So are other supernatural things the only ones who can see the bond marks? Or should I worry about my human friends asking about my new matching tattoos with you guys?”</p><p>“Only other Onmyoji and Ayakashi can see them usually, unless we’re in our battle forms, then normal people can see them.”</p><p>“Battle forms?”</p><p>“So you already know how we have our normal human forms and our true forms, right?”</p><p>“Yeah, Renjun’s eyes are different colors, Jeno has wings, Taeyong has ears and tails, you’ve got eyes, Sicheng’s got scales.”</p><p>“Our battle forms are like that, but more. Different clothes, sometimes more attributes come out as well. And it only happens when, you know… we’re in some kind of altercation.”</p><p>“Then why didn’t it happen that night with the Wraiths at the café?”</p><p>“Everyone but Taeyong and Yuta agreed that we didn’t want to overwhelm you too much that night. They weren’t asked, just by happenstance, but seemed to follow our lead at least.”</p><p>“I see…”</p><p>Your eggs were done then, and he plated them before setting them down in front of you.</p><p>“So, do you have any questions for me?”</p><p>You took a bite of the egg white, chewing thoughtfully. There was a lot going on in your mind right now that you couldn’t seem to focus on just one thing: your newfound Onmyoji powers, your supposed spiritual bond with five Ayakashi, then the entire situation with Jaehyun. You shook your head.</p><p>“Okay, because I have one for you,” Johnny leaned against the counter to look at you with a knowing smirk. “Who gave you <em>that?”</em></p><p>You had a sinking feeling that he already had an educated guess as to who gave you the rather bothersome hickey that you were very much regretting not covering up. Who knew so many people would give a shit about it?</p><p>“None of your business,” you scowled at him, taking another bite of your eggs.</p><p>“Alright, you don’t have to tell me, I won’t pry.”</p><p>Johnny gave you peace and quiet for all of five seconds.</p><p>“Jaehyun seems nice.”</p><p>“Oh <em>piss off</em>,” you groaned as he snickered.</p><p>“I still haven’t figured out where I know him from, by the way.”</p><p>“He works at the vinyl shop on Petal, I’m sure you’ve popped in there once or something.”</p><p>“Maybe we should go right now and see if it jogs my memory.”</p><p>“First of all, your restaurant opens in like sixty seconds, and second of all, you piece of shit, he’s not there right now anyway,” you stuffed one of the yolks in your mouth, glaring at Johnny.</p><p>“Well then where is he?”</p><p>“It’s Wednesday, so he’s working on campus all day.”</p><p>“What does he do on campus?”</p><p>“He’s a TA and teaches some of the Gen Ed classes.”</p><p>“Oh, an educated man.”</p><p>“I hate this conversation right now.”</p><p>Johnny went to defend himself, “Hey, you came into <em>my</em> restaurant with a giant hickey on your neck knowing that your boyfriend came here to get food for you last night and don’t expect me to say anything?”</p><p>“He’s <em>not</em> my boyfriend!” You hissed, stabbing your fork into your second egg and bursting the yolk in your momentary rage.</p><p>“Okay, you came into <em>my</em> restaurant with a giant hickey on your neck knowing that your friend with benefits came here—”</p><p><em>“Stop!”</em> You groaned loudly, pushing your plate away to hide your face in your arms on the countertop.</p><p>“He’s not your friend with benefits either? Then why the fuck did he chomp on your neck like that?”</p><p>“<em>Chomp</em> on my neck?” You repeated your friend’s words in utter disbelief. “What universe do you come from where <em>that</em> is how someone would describe giving a hickey?”</p><p>“Don’t avoid the question.”</p><p>“I’ll avoid the question all I damn want.”</p><p>“So what is he? Just your friend who occasionally gives you hickeys and that’s the end of the transaction?”</p><p>“I don’t <em>know</em>, Johnny!” You shrieked, finally feeling the tears pricking at your eyes. All the pent-up frustration, anxiety, and embarrassment at the situation was bleeding through, and you took deep breaths as you tried not to straight-up sob.</p><p>Johnny sighed, coming around to the other side of the island to smooth a gentle hand up and down your back, “I’m sorry, Y/N. I shouldn’t have pried. That was really inconsiderate of me.”</p><p>“It was more than prying, it was a fucking <em>interrogation</em>, asshole. And yeah, you shouldn’t have,” you spat out with a quivering lip, rubbing at your eyes furiously.</p><p>You couldn’t stay mad at Johnny long; you were more-so angry with yourself than him. For running away, for not actually confronting this situation and for not handling it like the mature fucking adult you’d sworn to Jaemin that you were. He was right, you were a romantically stunted adult. And it fucking sucked, and you were bitter about it, but you weren’t doing anything right now that would help you in the long-term.</p><p>When you shifted to pull your plate back to you and pick up your fork again, Johnny stopped rubbing your back and returned to his spot by the stove.</p><p>“Do you want me to make you another egg? Or some toast to soak up the yolk?” He offered kindly.</p><p>“Toast please,” you requested meekly, sniffling.</p><hr/><p>At the shrine that afternoon, you were able to look Taeyong in the eye a bit more, especially because you had dabbed some concealer over your hickey. No way were you about to have Jungwoo—or god forbid <em>Yukhei</em> for some reason—question you on it. Apparently you had the nosiest friends on the planet, so you weren’t taking any chances this time.</p><p>Stepping through the cloaking charm was a little easier than last time, but still jarring when there was suddenly a shrine in your view that wasn’t there one second ago. Yukhei was sitting on a ledge at the front and looked up, brows furrowing and eyes squinting to look at you against the bright sun overhead. In his hands was some kind of metal contraption or machine, and he was using the tiniest screwdriver you’d ever seen to make adjustments to it. The tool looked even tinier in his giant hands.</p><p>“Hey, Yukhei,” you greeted him politely. “Where’s Jungwoo?”</p><p>“Tea patio,” he jerked his thumb over his shoulder towards the back of the shrine.</p><p>As you thanked him and went to take leave of him, he muttered to himself, “Onmyoji…”</p><p>Walking around to the back of the shrine, you found the aforementioned tea patio, which did indeed contain Jungwoo. He was seated on a mat in front of a low table. A pot was in the middle of it, as well as a dish of sugar cubes, and three cups were laid out.</p><p>“Hi, Jungwoo,” you announced your presence, and he stood up to greet you.</p><p>“Hello, Lady Onmyoji.”</p><p>The Tsukumo-gami pulled you into a gentle hug, and you were reminded of just how tall he was, feeling rather small in his arms, but in a comforting way. The pale green yukata he donned was soft against your skin, and smelled of flowers—not overpoweringly so, just a gentle scent.</p><p>Pulling back, Jungwoo then went to hug Taeyong as well. The Nekomata stiffened for a moment until the other Ayakashi rubbed behind his ears, and he immediately melted into his arms. You watched them with an amused smile until they broke apart and everyone sat around the table.</p><p>Jungwoo kneeled to begin pouring tea, first in Taeyong’s cup, then yours, then his own before sitting back down. “Sugar?”</p><p>Taeyong’s ears twitched at this, “Please.”</p><p>“How many, Yonggie?” You questioned as Jungwoo reached over to begin depositing the cubes into his drink.</p><p>“I don’t know, until it stops tasting like bad hot leaf water,” he shrugged. “I haven’t really been offered tea that often.”</p><p>“You are more than welcome to come by for tea anytime, Taeyong,” Jungwoo offered, dropping cube after cube into the steaming cup for him.</p><p>“Thank you.”</p><p>You counted eight sugar cubes before Taeyong had him stop. Jungwoo next turned to yours, and you held up two fingers when he looked at you questioningly. He then dropped exactly ten in his own cup. An even bigger sweet tooth than Taeyong.</p><p>Finally, you addressed why you were here, “So, my powers are activated.”</p><p>“Yes, they are,” Jungwoo nodded. “That is how I knew you were coming; I can sense you a lot better now.”</p><p>“How far away did you know I was coming?”</p><p>“When you were at the base of the mountain.”</p><p>“Wow, will I be able to do that?”</p><p>“Yes, once we begin training your powers,” he blew on his tea before taking a small sip. “May I ask how you got your powers?”</p><p>You shrugged, watching the ripples across the surface of your tea as you cooled it down as well, “I literally don’t know. They just happened.”</p><p>“Perhaps I could be of some assistance; what were you doing when your powers were activated?”</p><p>With wide eyes and warmth flushing across your skin, you shook your head, “I don’t remember, just normal stuff, you know.”</p><p>Taeyong was now hyper-focused on his tea, taking a sip, flinching back as he’d burn his mouth on it, then repeat only a second later.</p><p>Jungwoo took this in stride, still trying to be helpful, “Well, I have heard of some Onmyoji’s powers being activated when in a dangerous situation requiring such powers, in their sleep, when experiencing a strong emotion, and in response to being around other powerful Onmyoji or Ayakashi.”</p><p>“Might be the strong emotion one,” you muttered, remembering just how absolutely <em>mortified</em> you were last night when you realized that Taeyong was watching you and Jaehyun. Even remembering it then made you want to cringe in on yourself and cry.</p><p>“It does not truly matter how you got your powers, only that you now have them, and are able to train them,” Jungwoo reassured you, setting his cup down for a moment. “Your bond mark is a lotus blossom, correct, Lady Onmyoji?”</p><p>“Yes, how did you…” you trailed off with the realization. Either him or Yukhei were one of your True Ayakashi. Or both, <em>that</em> would be wild.</p><p>Rotating in his seat just enough for you to see the back of his neck, you were met by the same pitch-black flower you’d seen earlier on your other two friends’ necks.</p><p>“I am one of your True Ayakashi, my Lady Onmyoji,” he declared sweetly, turning back in his seat once again.</p><p>“Three down, two to go,” you breathed out, still slightly in disbelief.</p><hr/><p>Leaving the shrine with Taeyong later that evening, you breathed in the cool mountain breeze deeply. You’d gotten a lot of answers from Jungwoo and finally felt <em>not</em> lost on one aspect of your life. Another aspect… not so much. He’d even given you your first impromptu Onmyoji lesson on simply sensing other supernatural beings, and a list of incantations to memorize for various things. Homework for your next session, which he suggested having twice a week.</p><p>“What should we have for dinner?” You prompted Taeyong. “Oh, did you eat the tuna that Johnny made for you from last night?”</p><p>“Yes, I did. It was really good,” he affirmed, eyes shining. “Can we get more tonight?”</p><p>“You’d eat raw fish for every meal if you could, wouldn’t you?”</p><p>“Yep!”</p><p>“It’s not quite dinnertime, so how about we swing by the apartment so I can wash out the containers and bring them when we go for dinner?”</p><p>“Alright, it’s a plan.”</p><p>A dark feeling creeped into your senses, and your muscles immediately tensed. Not Ayakashi, must be a Wraith. Taeyong must have felt it too, hand gripping your wrist tightly. You rubbed his arm with your other hand soothingly, looking around to try to see where exactly the Wraith was.</p><p>But there was something beneath the Wraith sensation, something you’d felt before, something familiar. Not Ayakashi, not Wraith but… you just couldn’t put your finger on it. It didn’t matter, you had to banish this Wraith now. You passed the paper between your hands to be able to read it, eyes quickly scanning for the one to banish a single Wraith. You were pretty sure it was only one Wraith, that was all you could see after all, directly ahead of you, moving rather slow as well.</p><p>Its swirling mass and bright red orbs momentarily distracted you as you went to recite the incantations. Licking your dry lips, you read off the paper, enunciating as clearly and strongly as you could.</p><p>“Evil spirits of days past heed these powers of the Onmyoji. Flee this place for eternity!”</p><p>You watched it disappear in tendrils blown apart by the wind, until nothing was left. The air felt cleaner once more, and you let out a deep breath. Taeyong’s grip loosened on you. You did it, you banished your first Wraith.</p><p>“I’ll write Jungwoo a letter when we get to the apartment, let him know what happened,” you murmured, eyes gracing over the sheet for the incantation to send a flying note; the only kind of non-face-to-face communication you could have with Jungwoo. Thousand-year-old hermits weren’t too keen on modern technology after all. Although, you were sure Jungwoo already knew what happened. Sensing your energies or whatever.</p><p>Just when you thought you were safe, your phone buzzed. Or more specifically, <em>continually</em> buzzed. With a call. Looking at the caller ID, you winced. A call from Jaehyun. You told Yuta that you were going to talk to him, but you didn’t want it to be entirely <em>unplanned</em> and <em>over the phone</em>. This was a conversation to have in person, even if it did heighten the chance of you having a panic attack or stress-induced aneurysm. You weren’t entirely sure if the latter were possible, but you felt as though you’d come pretty close to one several times in the past few days. Including right then.</p><p>Taking a deep breath, you hovered your thumb over the accept call button, debating about whether to actually pick up or not. Letting it ring to voicemail would absolve you of all theoretical responsibility you could just say you missed the call, you weren’t by your phone. But what if he decided to call again? It was only six, you had no excuse for never checking your phone notifications between then and when you saw him at eight a.m. next week.</p><p>With a groan, you did the right thing, and picked up the call.</p><p>“Hi, Jaehyun,” you breathed out, motioning to Taeyong to be quiet.</p><p>“Hey, Y/N, I thought I wasn’t going to catch you for a second there,” Jaehyun greeted you, rambling on for a bit longer than he tended to.</p><p>You didn’t have anything to say in response, a long pause resounding between the two of you.</p><p>“Uh, anyway,” he suddenly spoke again to fill the silence. “We should meet up and talk. About… you know.”</p><p>“Yeah, I know.”</p><p>“Okay, uh, good. When can you… uh, tonight? Maybe?”</p><p>Your throat literally seized up, and you could barely squeak out, “Uh, not—not tonight, can’t do that.”</p><p>“Okay, okay,” he quickly went to smooth it over. “Tomorrow after your classes? When do your classes end?”</p><p>“Five.”</p><p>“Oh. My first class starts at five… my last class ends at seven thirty. After that? Does that work for you?”</p><p>“Sure. Where?”</p><p>“Can I just come over to your place after?”</p><p>You were frozen. There was no way you wanted Taeyong to be in the room—or anywhere in the vicinity of you two—while you had this conversation. Maybe you could leave him at Lenticular for a bit? You could just drop him off there and pick him back up afterwards, right? Surely, Johnny wouldn’t mind. Renjun definitely would, but his vitriol was the least of your worries.</p><p>“Y/N? You still there?”</p><p>“I am! Yeah, that should—that’ll work.”</p><p>“Alright then, sounds good. I’ll see you then.”</p><p>“See you.”</p><p>“Bye.”</p><p>“Bye.”</p><hr/><p>Sinking down in a booth at Lenticular that night, you rubbed a hand over your face. Renjun had taken the containers at the host stand and was dropping them off with Johnny in the kitchen while he grabbed your drinks as well. Lenticular was fairly busy, most of the tables being taken up. You were glad to see that they were able to keep quite a few of the customers from their initial re-opening night.</p><p>You continued musing over your paper of incantations as Taeyong happily sipped on the juice that Renjun had just brought out for him. They all seemed so simple, banishing one Wraith, banishing multiple Wraiths, sending flying notes, enchanting talismans—you had no clue what those even were—and a small guide of breathing techniques to control your powers. According to Jungwoo, the key to do anything more difficult than those was in focusing and channeling your energy. But you didn’t <em>feel</em> any <em>energy</em> within you. At least nothing more special than usual. Even when you had banished the Wraith earlier, nothing felt… <em>different</em> about you.</p><p>“Y/N?” A familiar voice calling your name out made you whip your head around in surprise.</p><p>It was Na Jaemin, his face immediately perking up when he saw that it <em>was</em> you. He came rushing over to your table, “Hey, Y/N! I wasn’t sure if that was you, but it is!”</p><p>Quickly folding the incantation paper back up, you set it aside with your phone to greet your friend, “Hey, Jaemin.” Looking around, you couldn’t spot Jeno or any other familiar figures. “Here by yourself?”</p><p>“Oh, yeah, Johnny says I’m his most frequent regular,” he admitted, seeming somewhat sheepish but also somewhat flattered as he scratched at his neck.</p><p>“You want to eat with us?” You offered, having no good reason to deny your own self-proclaimed best friend from joining you and Taeyong.</p><p>“Sure!” He scooted in beside you, eyes locked on Taeyong.</p><p><em>Oh</em>, other than that. He had no clue who Taeyong was, and you weren’t about to <em>admit</em> who he actually was. Too much of an unnecessary headache. Realizing you had to come up with a realistic fib in that split second, you cleared your throat to buy yourself some time, taking a nice long sip of your water.</p><p>“Uh, Jaemin, this is Taeyong. He’s… Yuta’s friend from out of town. Yuta’s got something tonight, so I offered to take him to dinner and show him the great food that Lenticular has to offer,” you quickly rambled on as soon as you’d settled on a lie. “Taeyong, this is my friend Na Jaemin.”</p><p>Taeyong flashed you an incredulous look—he was clearly not enthused about being known as Yuta’s friend—but washed it away to throw Jaemin a rather tense smile.</p><p>“Hello, Jaemin,” the Nekomata nodded to him politely through gritted teeth, presumably remembering all the times that he’d been harassed by your friend while in his cat form.</p><p>“Nice to meet you, Taeyong,” Jaemin smiled at the man brightly. “How are you liking our little city so far?”</p><p>His nose twitched, “It’s fine.”</p><p>While they made small talk, you quickly grabbed your phone and angled yourself so Jaemin couldn’t possibly see your screen while you fervently texted Yuta.</p><p>[you: if jaemin asks for some reason, taeyong is your friend from out of town who’s visiting you]</p><p>The next time Renjun came to your table, he’d apparently noticed Jaemin’s presence and told Johnny, because he came back with three entrees.</p><p>“Oh joy, our favorite regular…” Renjun drawled, looking down at Jaemin with distaste.</p><p>“Hi, Renjun!” Jaemin greeted him brightly nevertheless. “How’d you do on that landscape assignment?”</p><p>The Satori seemed a little caught off-guard, face flushing as he looked down at his feet, “Good, my professor really liked it. Thanks for the suggestion.”</p><p>“Of course! I just wish you’d actually show me your photos one of these days.”</p><p>“One of these days…” He murmured before walking away to attend to another table.</p><p>Looking at your friend with wide eyes, you asked, “Renjun does photography?”</p><p>“Yeah, he takes online classes from our college. I recommended that field over by the macaron shop for an assignment he had,” Jaemin answered nonchalantly. “What, you didn’t know that?”</p><p>“We don’t talk about stuff like that…”</p><p>“Then what <em>do</em> you talk about?”</p><p>You shrugged, “Other stuff, I guess.”</p><p>Taeyong was already halfway through his raw tuna tartare when you finally picked up your fork, and you gave him a pointed look. He needed to slow down and act like a normal human being. With guilty, round cheeks, he set his utensils down and swallowed what was in his mouth before taking a delicate sip of his juice.</p><p>“You eat like you’re starving, Taeyong,” Jaemin commented. “Does Yuta not have any food at his place or something?”</p><p>“I’m a… picky eater,” Taeyong replied, picking up a smaller mouthful of the fish.</p><p>“Well, after this, do you guys want to hit the night market to find something sweet?” Your best friend suggested. “Johnny’s cookies are good, but I’m kind of in the mood for something else tonight.”</p><p>You were about to reject the idea, not wanting to keep up this charade for much longer, but Taeyong’s face absolutely lit up. Of course, your Nekomata with a sweet tooth.</p><p>Nodding, you agreed, “Sure, yeah, sounds good to me.”</p><hr/><p>After having gotten Taeyong a chocolate-filled taiyaki from a street vendor—your reasoning for paying for him being that he forgot his wallet in Yuta’s apartment—you wandered the streets with your two friends. Jaemin scarfed down a strawberry rice cake before holding a matcha flavored one out to you. You accepted the sweet from him, gently squishing it between your fingers for a moment.</p><p>After taking your first bite, your phone buzzed, and you pulled it out to check it. It was just Yuta, thankfully. If it had been Jaehyun, you didn’t know what you’d have done.</p><p>[yuta: uh, good to know, why?]</p><p>[you: we ran into him at lenticular and i had to come up with an excuse as to who yonggie was]</p><p>[yuta: you’ll have to tell him eventually, aren’t you two like, best friends forever or something]</p><p>[you: don’t make me think about the future]</p><p>[yuta: fine, did you talk to jaehyun?]</p><p>[you: briefly. we’re going to actually have a talk about it tomorrow]</p><p>[yuta: good, keep me posted. if you want]</p><p>[you: i will]</p><p>[yuta: good luck, i hope you two… finish what you started]</p><p>[you: did you just say you hope we fuck]</p><p>[yuta: i meant that i hope you finish beginning a beautiful relationship]</p><p>[yuta: and fuck too i guess, i’m pretty sure jaehyun’s been having a dry spell]</p><p>[you: where?]</p><p>[yuta: what?]</p><p>[you: where did i ask?]</p><p>With a snicker, you pocketed your phone again, careful not to crush the incantation paper folded up in there. Finishing the rice cake in your hand, you looked down the well-lit bustling streets, breathing in the feel of the city. It had been a while since you’d truly just enjoyed a night out with some friends. But watching Taeyong’s mouth split into a wide yawn, you knew you’d have to be heading home soon. He’d missed his late afternoon-early evening catnap, which meant he was going to crash early tonight.</p><p>“I just texted Yuta, he says he’s heading back home, so I’ll drop you back there, Taeyong,” you announced, grabbing the man’s elbow.</p><p>His eyes widened and he nodded, “Okay, thanks, Y/N.”</p><p>Jaemin stopped along with the two of you, pointing over his shoulder, “I’m going to double back to the taiyaki stand, I told Jeno I’d bring him something. It was good seeing you again, Y/N.”</p><p>He pulled you into a tight hug, and you squeezed your friend back. It was truly good seeing him, even if you had to lie a little bit.</p><p>“You too, NaNa,” you patted his back before letting go.</p><p>“And it was nice meeting you, Taeyong,” he stuck a hand out towards the Nekomata. “I hope we can see each other again while you’re in town.”</p><p>Taeyong gingerly nodded his head, “I’m sure I’ll see you again, Jaemin.”</p><p>With that, your friend took off down the street, and you turned back to Taeyong hopefully. They’d seemed to be getting along fairly well as two humans. At least better than they did when one was a very affectionate human and the other was a very cute cat.</p><p>“Well?” You questioned, voice pitching up and betraying your wants.</p><p>“He’s fine,” Taeyong muttered, much to your delight. Better than before.</p><p>Gently pulling him down the street, you declared, “Come on, Yonggie, let’s go home.”</p><hr/><p>The next day you went through the motions at school, trying to keep your mind off the nausea-inducing anxiety fest you were going to have this evening. In the long run, it was a good idea. In the short run, it made your stomach churn like nothing else. You’d texted Johnny that morning to ask if it was okay to leave Taeyong at his place for a bit, and he’d thankfully agreed. You just hadn’t told Taeyong that yet.</p><p>So when you got back to your apartment after your Chemistry Lab, you checked the time. A little after five. Jaehyun said he’d be done on campus at seven thirty and would leave straight from there. That gave you some time before having to make the thirty-ish-minute round-trip to Lenticular Café and back.</p><p>Taeyong was on your couch, curled up in his corner, in his true form this time. To your fond amusement, he was still curled up much like a cat, despite the size and anatomy difference. You took just a moment to brush some of his hair away from his eyes before gently shaking his shoulder.</p><p>“Hey, Yonggie, wake up,” you said quietly as he began squinting his eyes open.</p><p>“Hm?” He grunted, looking at you attentively.</p><p>“Still tired, huh?”</p><p>“Little bit.”</p><p>“I need to tell you something, okay?”</p><p>He sat up properly this time, much more awake. Regarding you with wide eyes as you sat down beside him, he was clearly worried.</p><p>“It’s nothing bad, Yong, I promise,” you reassured him, grabbing one of his hands to squeeze it. “I just need to drop you off at Lenticular for a little bit tonight. Jaehyun is coming over to talk, and I’d like some privacy for this conversation.”</p><p>He scoffed in disgust, “Oh, I am more than happy to give you two that privacy.”</p><p>“Yeah, thanks,” you snorted, all sweetness gone from your voice.</p><hr/><p>Now alone in your apartment, you were just pacing in your living room waiting for Jaehyun to arrive. He’d texted you seventeen minutes ago that he was done with his class and was leaving campus. It typically only took <em>fifteen</em> minutes to commute between campus and your apartment. Could he have hit some kind of traffic? Seemed unlikely if he took the subway like you did, there was no traffic on the subway. Hit the crosswalks at all the wrong times and had to wait at every single one? Maybe…</p><p>Then there was a knock on your door. You first jumped out of your skin, then rushed to open it. Jaehyun was indeed on the other side, hands stuffed in the pockets of his navy blue dress slacks. Your breath hitched in your throat when he looked up from his feet to you, and you just stood there for an embarrassingly long amount of time before remembering to function like an actual human being and step back to let him in.</p><p>“Hey, Jaehyun…”</p><p>“Hey, Y/N,” he stopped in the middle of your living room, looking around. “Where’s Tama?”</p><p>“Uh, napping in my room,” you fibbed, jerking your thumb over your shoulder at said bedroom. You were getting startlingly comfortable with lying to your friends.</p><p>“Ah.”</p><p>You gestured to the couch, “Uh, you can sit.”</p><p>He did so, “Thanks.”</p><p>Jaehyun had sat on the middle cushion of the couch, and you immediately realized that now you couldn’t be the furthest away from him as possible while still appearing normal and sitting on the same piece of furniture.</p><p><em>Oh my god</em>, you needed to fucking calm down. You were over-analyzing every little thing and it wasn’t doing anything to calm your nerves over the situation. Forcing yourself to take a deep breath, you sat as confidently as you could in the corner of the couch beside him. But you still brought your knees up to your chest in a self-comforting move, tucked safely against the arm of the couch.</p><p>“About Tuesday night,” Jaehyun began, voice clear but soft. “I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable in any way, I really am. But I do really like you, Y/N, and would like to be with you, romantically.”</p><p>He was being sincere, genuine. Not that you had doubted his authenticity at all, your brain was just running on dumb bitch fumes at that point, it was hard to fully process that. It was what you wanted as well, you just couldn’t make your mouth form the words to properly tell him that, getting all to tongue-tied as soon as you tried to look at Jaehyun. He really was handsome.</p><p>So instead, you stared down at your knees as you carefully said, “I… yeah, me too, Jaehyun. And you didn’t make me uncomfortable on Tuesday. I was just as into as you were, I just <em>really</em> couldn’t do it with the cat looking, though.”</p><p>You heard him chuckle, and looked up in time to catch his soft smile, the sight warming your heart. As his eyes opened back up, you cast your own back down.</p><p>“So are you going to look at me now?” He asked teasingly, setting a hand on your knee.</p><p>With a small pout and glare, you defiantly focused your gaze on his face, much to his delight. He patted your knee approvingly.</p><p>“Good, because it would have been awkward if you couldn’t look me in the eye on our date.”</p><p>“And what date is that?” You asked coyly.</p><p>“The date we’re going to go on this weekend as part of the ‘being with you romantically’ thing we just agreed on.”</p><p>“Ah, right, of course.”</p><p>“Already forgot?”</p><p>You shoved at his thigh with your foot, “Piss <em>off</em>, Jung Jaehyun.”</p><p>He grabbed your ankle with a snicker, “<em>Sorry</em>, Y/L/N Y/N.”</p><p>“So what are we going to do on this date this weekend?” You asked, shaking your leg from his grip to instead rest it comfortably on his lap.</p><p>“What would <em>you</em> like to do?”</p><p>You took a moment to think about this. Like Jaemin had said, you didn’t have too much experience with proper romantic relationships past what you did in middle school. But there was one date you had always wanted to go on.</p><p>“Stargazing,” you determined. “I’d like to go stargazing.”</p><p>Jaehyun smiled as he nodded his head, “Okay, we’ll go stargazing. Leave the rest to me.”</p><p>“Gladly.”</p><hr/><p>All throughout Friday, you had a skip in your step, even at your singular class in the middle of your day that usually pissed you off just by existing. Nothing could dampen your spirits. After all, tomorrow you had your first date with Jung Jaehyun. You didn’t even pay attention in your lecture that day, too busy texting Jaemin and Yuta separately, both hyping you up for your date tomorrow. It was a little embarrassing, but you were still grinning as you shot a text back while leaving your lecture hall at the end of the class.</p><p>As you walked towards the building doors, you were reading the text Yuta had just sent in response to your cheekily vague answer when someone grabbed your shoulder. You turned to look at them, surprised to be met with the face of Mark Lee.</p><p>“Hey, Y/N!” He grinned, and you noticed that his penny board was in his hand.</p><p>“Hey, Mark,” you stopped to chat. “What are you doing here?”</p><p>“Roommate needed a late lunch delivered to him and his usual plug was busy, so I subbed in for today.”</p><p>“Ah, okay. I just got out of my first, only, and last class of the day.”</p><p>“What class?”</p><p>“Principles of Chemistry I.”</p><p>“Fun,” he wrinkled his nose sarcastically. “Anyway, I’ve got nothing better to do for the rest of the day, you want to come watch me skate?”</p><p>In a similar boat of having no plans that afternoon, you shrugged, “Sure.”</p><hr/><p>Sitting on a planter outside the practically abandoned library entrance, you watched Mark skate around on the various concrete and metal surfaces in the courtyard in front of it. He tried to do a kickflip, but just ended up nearly breaking his ankle.</p><p>“Haven’t you been a skater boy since we were in high school?” You called out to him with a judgmental eyebrow quirked up.</p><p>Mark tried and failed once again, before correcting you, “I <em>hung out with</em> the skater boys in school, but I didn’t start skating until this semester. Figured it’d help me get around campus quicker.”</p><p>“Does it?”</p><p>“Yeah, I’m just not good at tricks.”</p><p>“What ever happened to all your skater boy friends, anyway?”</p><p>Mark held his penny board in his hand as he wracked his brain to answer your question, “Dejun moved away in high school, YangYang decided to go to college in Germany for some reason, and Jisung is still in high school, he’s graduating this year.”</p><p>“Sungie!” You exclaimed brightly, always having fond memories of him. “I haven’t seen him in <em>forever</em>!”</p><p>You remembered the younger boy well, you’d babysat him for your first three years of high school and when he got old enough that he didn’t need a babysitter, you tutored him. That didn’t come until he was a freshman in high school, however, when you were a senior. He had finally convinced his parents that he didn’t need a babysitter anymore, especially one who he now went to the same school as. They conceded. Kind of. Your title was changed to “tutor” and you came over less frequently.</p><p>Another attempted kick flip. He almost landed it that time.</p><p>Mark switched gears, trying a different trick now, “When was the last time you saw him?”</p><p>“Mine and Jaemin’s joint graduation party, I think.”</p><p>“Oh, so before he hit his growth spurt.”</p><p>“…Yeah.”</p><p>“He’s a giant now, and still growing unfortunately.”</p><p>“Can you tell him I said hi the next time you see him?” You requested, and Mark smiled.</p><p>“Yeah, I’m sure he’ll be glad to hear that,” he had a mischievous grin on his face as he stopped skating once more to walk towards you. “He had a <em>huge</em> crush on you.”</p><p>“Oh?”</p><p>“It was so <em>annoying</em> because he wouldn’t <em>shut up</em>, but it was also so <em>funny</em> because he was so easy to rile up about it!”</p><p>You shook your head at the man, “You’re mean.”</p><p>“Well we don’t make fun of him for it anymore, but yeah, at the time we definitely were mean.”</p><p>“Does he still live off Pleasant Peach? Maybe I’ll drop by sometime, it’d be nice to chat with his mother again.”</p><p>“Uh maybe not with that thing on your neck,” Mark pointed to his own skin awkwardly before returning to skating. “Like, obviously Jisung knows deep in his heart that you fuck, but I don’t think he’d love to be confronted by blatant evidence of it, you know?”</p><p>You smacked a hand over your now fading hickey, glaring at your friend, “I never thought that one little hickey would be such a fucking big deal to a bunch of fully-grown adults.”</p><p>“What do you mean? Jisung’s like twelve.”</p><p>“I <em>mean</em>, you, Jaemin, Yuta, and Johnny all seem to think me having a hickey is the most interesting and scandalous and gossip-worthy thing ever.”</p><p>“Your annoyance is pure gold, Y/N,” he snickered before almost tripping and falling on his face.</p><p>“Oh, great.”</p><p>“Anyway, who’s it from?”</p><p>Crossing your arms defensively, you stared him down defiantly, “I’m not telling you.”</p><p>“Why not? It’s not like I know the person—Wait, unless I <em>do</em>, and that’s why you don’t want to tell me.”</p><p>You gave no response.</p><p>“Okay, it’s got to be someone that we both know, and that we know the other knows. Probably not the four you just listed because why would someone give you a hickey then freak out about you having one, you know? Hm… unless it <em>is</em>, and you were trying to throw me off the scent.”</p><p>You rolled your eyes, “That’s some extreme 4D chess you’re playing with yourself there, Mark.”</p><p>“Right, you’re not that smart.”</p><p>“Hey!”</p><p>“I think our only other mutual acquaintance would be Jaehyun. Oh my <em>god</em>, Y/N! You <em>are</em> fucking the TA!”</p><p>“Shut up!” You hissed, looking around for any sign of other students from your Lit class, or God forbid, your actual literature professor. “Look, I know there’s been rumors since the beginning of the semester because Jaehyun and I were friends, but nothing has actually happened. We’ve… expressed romantic interest in each other, but we haven’t even had our first date or anything, okay?”</p><p>“<em>Nothing</em> has happened?” He eyed your neck pointedly.</p><p>“I really don’t have to explain myself to you.”</p><p>“And yet you are.”</p><p>Now fully infuriated, you stood up from the concrete planter, “I’m out.”</p><p>“Y/N, hey, I’m sorry,” your friend genuinely apologized, and you shook him off with a light smile.</p><p>“I know, but I’m officially bored of watching you suck at skateboarding, so I’m going to head out.”</p><p>“You’re mean too, Y/L/N Y/N.”</p><p>“I know,” you stuck your tongue out childishly. “I’m going to pop into my parents’ store like a good daughter, actually. You’re more than welcome to join me.”</p><p>“Sure,” Mark shrugged, grabbing his backpack that had been set down beside you and tucking his penny board back in it.</p><hr/><p>As you walked down the streets with Mark, you realized that this was the first time you’d really hung out with him not on-campus or within the context of school—you’d gone to his apartment once for a partner Literature assignment, when his roommate was out—and he was a lot of fun. Sometimes he’d say something that took you a minute to fully process and left you bewildered about how the wiring of his brain worked, but other times the two of you seemed like you were on the same wavelength, immediately clicking with goofs and jokes to each other.</p><p>Finally reaching Bibliophile Books, you pushed the door open to show Mark in, the bell above the door twinkling pleasantly. You didn’t see anybody at first, and wandered over to the office door to knock on it.</p><p>“Your parents aren’t in,” Sicheng’s voice carried to your ears, and you looked to see him halfway down the aisle next to you, organizing a section of books. “They leave early Fridays.”</p><p>“Oh, okay,” you sighed, watching him turn to continue shelving. A flash of something poked out from under his collar, and your eyes widened. “Sicheng, what’s on your neck?”</p><p>“Uh, nothing, why, is there something?” He asked, smacking a hand over it. “A bug?”</p><p>Mark had joined you and looked between the two of you with an eyebrow raised, “Uh, did you not know that he’s your True Ayakashi, Y/N?”</p><p>Your eyes widened. It <em>was</em> what you thought it was. Sicheng’s face mirrored your own, only doubled with Mark’s presence.</p><p>“I’m what?”</p><p>Turning around, you pulled down the back of your shirt to show of your neck, “You’ve got the same thing, Sicheng.”</p><p>“Holy shit, <em>finally</em>,” he groaned aloud, then turned to Mark curiously. “And who are you?”</p><p>“Oh, Sicheng, this is my friend Mark, he’s an Onmyoji too. Mark, this is Sicheng, he’s an Ayakashi.”</p><p>Sicheng shelved the last book and completely disregarded your friend to ask, “Y/N, when did you get your powers?”</p><p>“Uh, Tuesday night.”</p><p>“Oh, yeah, I can feel you now,” he mused thoughtfully. “I thought the Onmyoji I felt was your friend, but yeah, I can sense your powers too. They’re… never mind.”</p><p>“They’re what, Sicheng?”</p><p>The Mizuchi dragon bit his lip, clearly not wanting to tell you whatever he was thinking. Or trying to figure out how to word it as to cause the least amount of damage. After a moment, he sighed shortly and said, “They’re not as strong as I had expected them to be.”</p><p>“Oh, right. You were all saying how I was supposed to be the most powerful Onmyoji in a millennium or something,” you retorted bitterly. “Sorry to disappoint.”</p><p>“Maybe your powers are just activating gradually, instead of all at once!” Mark piped up hopefully. “Proper training could speed things along!”</p><p>Sicheng looked at him suspiciously, “Let me guess, you’re going to offer to train her.”</p><p>“Well, I was thinking me and Master Jungwoo. Do you know Master Jungwoo? He’s a Tsuko-gami, he—”</p><p>“Lives in the shrine on the mountain and used to be a flute, his brother Yukhei used to be a drum,” you finished. “Yeah, I know him. He’s also one of my True Ayakashi.”</p><p>“Woah, that’s cool,” Mark’s eyebrows shot up, clearly impressed. “He helped me with the beginnings of my Onmyoji training. The two of us could get you Divining in no time!”</p><p>“Oh, Jungwoo and I already have plans to start my training.”</p><p>“I could still help out! It might be easier for an Onmyoji Diviner to explain or demonstrate how to Divine to you. I’d be supplemental though, Jungwoo would run the show!”</p><p>You turned to the Ayakashi with you, “What do you think, Sicheng?”</p><p>He seemed surprised you’d be asking his opinion, and raised his eyebrow at you, “Could we speak in the office for a moment, Y/N?”</p><p>“Oh, sure.”</p><p>Giving Mark an apologetic look, you followed Sicheng into your parents’ office. He closed the door between you two before asking, “How well do you know Mark?”</p><p>“Uh, we’ve been going to the same school since we were kids, but we didn’t start hanging out until this year because we’re in the same Lit class. We’re friends. Why?”</p><p>“Do you trust him?”</p><p>“He hasn’t given me any reason not to. Again, why?”</p><p>“Remember how the Wraiths have been acting strangely?”</p><p>“Yeah…”</p><p>“One possible reason is that an Onmyoji is controlling them.”</p><p>“And Mark’s an Onmyoji.”</p><p>“Yes. I’m not saying to do anything rash, but I recommend that you err on the side of caution.”</p><p>“I understand,” you nodded, moving to grab the door handle. “Thank you.”</p><p>“And…” Sicheng added, catching your attention again. “I’m very honored to be one of your True Ayakashi.”</p><p>With a grin, you threw your arms around his neck, startling him for a moment as you hugged him tightly.</p><p>“Thanks, Sicheng. That means a lot to me.”</p><p>He patted your back once, “You’re welcome.”</p><p>Exiting from the office, you were pleased to see Mark right where you left him, spinning one of his wheels with a great focus. He looked up when you stepped out, turning to you hopefully.</p><p>“I think it’s a good idea for Jungwoo and you to help train me,” you announced. “We should go ask him now, if you’ve got the time.”</p><p>“I do.”</p><hr/><p>Trekking through the mountains with Mark, you asked him more questions about Onmyoji and Ayakashi.</p><p>“When did you get your powers?”</p><p>“The summer before we started high school,” he answered, bringing a hand up to absentmindedly touch his bond mark. “Ten—he’s my roommate and one of my True Ayakashi; a Jorogumo—had been a family friend at that point, he helped me out a lot in the beginning. My dad too.”</p><p>“Is your dad an Onmyoji?”</p><p>“Yeah, he was.”</p><p><em>Was?</em> Oh, right, you’d heard about Mark’s dad passing away your freshman year of high school. You weren’t nearly close enough with him to have heard much else, or even give him your condolences in passing in the halls.</p><p>“Oh. I’m sorry.”</p><p>“It’s fine.”</p><p>“So, what exactly is a Jorogumo?”</p><p>“In the old legends they were usually sexy spider woman seductresses,” Mark snickered. “I <em>would</em> make fun of Ten for that, but he honestly embraces it. And like I said, I’ve never seen that guy get turned down at a bar. So I think the seductress part has definitely carried over.”</p><p>“Oh, okay,” you blinked, trying to think of another question. “Do you have any of your other True Ayakashi?”</p><p>“No, just Ten,” he sighed bitterly. “It was so… <em>jarring</em>, I suppose, to have gotten my first True Ayakashi as soon as I got my powers and then nothing since then. Disappointing at least.”</p><p>“And I have…” you did a mental count in your head. Johnny, Renjun, Jungwoo, Sicheng. “Four out of five already.”</p><p>“Lucky you.”</p><p>“What’s the point of True Ayakashi anyway? Jungwoo explained that Onmyoji will get more power when using their True Ayakashi, but… what exactly does that mean?”</p><p>“The more of your True Ayakashi that you have, the more powerful you’ll be. And the more powerful you are, the cooler the stuff you can do. You’ll probably be ready for elemental manipulation any day now.”</p><p>“Woah, really?”</p><p>“Yeah.”</p><p>“Can you do it?”</p><p>“No, I only have one of my True Ayakashi, the kind of supplemental power needed for any kind of element manipulation… I’d need a couple more of my True Ayakashi at least.”</p><p>You frowned thoughtfully, wracking your brain for what your friends had said about channeling Ayakashi’s powers, “Well, can’t you use powers of any willing Ayakashi?”</p><p>He shook his head, “One of your True Ayakashi, power-wise, is equal to like <em>ten</em> random Ayakashi off the street with no connection to you.”</p><p>“Oh. Good to know, I guess.”</p><p>“Hey, we’re getting close,” Mark abruptly nodded ahead of you, and you figured he must have been to the shrine a lot more frequently than you had, because he knew where it was without being able to see it.</p><p>And soon enough, you had taken a step and the shrine was suddenly in front of you. Yukhei wasn’t perched at the front where he had been last time, but you had already sensed that he wasn’t at the shrine in the first place, so you headed towards the building to start looking for Jungwoo.</p><p>“He’s probably around back reading some poetry or something,” Mark grabbed your elbow lightly to redirect you. “And Yukhei’s in the city doing business.”</p><p>When you gave him a strange look, he offered up an explanation.</p><p>“I can sense that there’s only one Ayakashi here. That will probably be our first order of business on your training, teaching you how to pick up on sensations.”</p><p>“I <em>knew</em> Yukhei wasn’t here; Jungwoo taught me to sense things the last time I saw him. I was surprised by you knowing exactly <em>what</em> they’d be doing.”</p><p>“That’s what they’d be doing on a Friday afternoon six years ago; hermits are creatures of habit, especially thousand-year-old hermits.”</p><p>Mark was right, as you walked around the building, you were able to spot Jungwoo on the back porch, a rather old-looking book in his hands. The pages were weathered, worn, and the characters on them were from some long-dead language that you couldn’t possibly read. The Onmyoji with you stopped in front of the short flight of steps, immediately dropping his penny board and coming to kneel on the grass before Jungwoo, bowing his head respectfully.</p><p>The Tsukumo-gami didn’t look up as he greeted the two of you, “Hello, Lady Onmyoji. Mark.”</p><p>You couldn’t tell if him being a first-name basis with Mark was a good thing or not, and you also weren’t sure if you should assume a similar position as your friend either. So instead you just stood awkwardly, coughing to clear your throat as you returned the greeting.</p><p>“Hey, Jungwoo,” you forced a half-hearted smile. “What are you reading?”</p><p>“Poetry,” he stated simply, setting the book aside. “I have little use for actually reading them anymore as I have had them memorized for hundreds of years, however, I still find myself taking comfort in it as a routine.”</p><p>“Oh, well, Mark and I wanted to talk to you.”</p><p>Still with his eyes on you, Jungwoo stated, “Speak, Mark. And sit up.”</p><p>Mark immediately obliged, remaining kneeling but sitting up, his spine straighter than you had ever seen it in class, eyes sharply focused on Jungwoo.</p><p>“Thank you, Master Jungwoo. I know that you are already in charge of Y/N’s Onmyoji training, and I have no want to change that,” Mark enunciated clearly. “I am humbly requesting for you to let me assist with her training. I don’t believe that you will <em>not</em> be able to train her properly without me, it would simply be an honor for you to allow me to assist.”</p><p>“I will consider it depending on how you answer this question: How are you, Mark?”</p><p>“I’m fine, Master.”</p><p>“Leave.”</p><p>Mark immediately stood, grabbing his penny board on his way up and heading for the side of the shrine, presumably to do just what Jungwoo had told him to do. Your eyes widened considerably at the strange interaction happening before you, especially at Jungwoo’s apparent harsh dismissal of Mark.</p><p>“Jungwoo, what—”</p><p>You were cut off by the usually kind, warm Tsukumo-gami harshly addressing the retreating boy, “You know you cannot lie to me, Mark Lee.”</p><p>Almost at once, Mark crumpled where he stood, falling back into his previous kneeling position, his head falling into his hands as he blubbered out, “I miss my father, Master Jungwoo. I miss him so much.”</p><p>Your heart broke right in two as his voice cracked with his confession, and even more when you saw Jungwoo finally look at the boy, standing up to walk over to him and kneel beside him, resting a single hand on the back of his head.</p><p>“You may assist Y/N in her training,” he declared softly, hand not moving, just a simple weight on Mark’s head.</p><p>Jungwoo focused back on you, “Have you memorized the sheet of incantations I gave you, Y/N?”</p><p>“Uh, most of them,” you replied, still in awe at everything that you had just witnessed. “There’s still a couple that trip me up sometimes. Not to mention that I can’t even tell if they’re doing anything most of the time unless there’s a Wraith in front of me. Except the flying note, you know.”</p><p>“Can you come tomorrow morning?”</p><p>“Yeah, that would be perfect. I have something tomorrow night.”</p><p>“We will be done in the afternoon. Finish memorizing the sheet tonight, and I will see the two of you here at seven tomorrow morning.”</p><p>He stood back up, removing himself from Mark’s side to walk over to you. And finally, a smile graced his face as he moved to hug you, “I am excited to begin your training, Lady Onmyoji.”</p><p>“Me too, Jungwoo,” you hugged him back.</p><p>Mark’s sobs had receded to sniffles, then to silence as he remained kneeling in the grass. Jungwoo left your side to sit back on his cushion and pick his book of poems back up again.</p><p>“You may leave, Mark,” Jungwoo said dismissively, and the boy immediately shot to his feet.</p><p>“Thank you, Master Jungwoo,” he bowed to him before moving to take leave of the area, collecting his board back in his hand and walking towards you.</p><p>“Uh, bye, Jungwoo!” You said to the Ayakashi cheerfully.</p><p>“Goodbye, Lady Onmyoji.”</p><p>Following Mark from the shrine, you were still in awe at the complete change in demeanor your friend had. As he wiped away his tears, you found yourself speechless, at an absolute loss for words. But it seemed as though he didn’t mind your silence, content to quietly walk beside you back down the mountain and into the city, where you two eventually parted ways to return to your own dwellings for the night.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. [three]</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The next morning you were at the shrine bright and early, covering the yawn that was escaping your mouth with a hand as you blinked away your tiredness. You hadn’t been having the most regular or healthy sleep cycle lately, especially since Taeyong woke you up twice last night because he kept bumping into furniture in his true form. You recommended that he stay in his cat form—he seemed much more graceful like that.</p><p>Yukhei was surprisingly up. Not that you knew much about him or his schedule, but you just kind of figured he’d be sleeping in later than seven in the morning. But he wasn’t; when you arrived, he was fixing up what looked like a little mechanical metal bird on the front porch. Meanwhile, you and Jungwoo were on the back porch, your friend pouring you a cup of tea.</p><p>“Green tea, to help wake you up,” he explained, holding the steaming cup out of you. “I am sorry if you had hoped for coffee.”</p><p>“Tea’s fine,” you reassured him, looking around the shrine. Mark hadn’t arrived yet. Admittedly, it was still ten till seven, he wasn’t late yet.</p><p>“Mark learned many things in his short time studying under me. Having respect for the concept of time was not one of those.”</p><p>You snickered before inquiring, “So how long did you train Mark, then?”</p><p>“About a year or so, but that was some time ago. And he had some training before that, from his father. However, I am afraid he passed before he could teach Mark much of anything about being an Onmyoji.”</p><p>“So you were his only ties to this world, then.”</p><p>“Not entirely, he had one of his True Ayakashi. Ten was of little help in his training, I believe he was not terribly thrilled about having a child as his Onmyoji. But emotionally… I am sure he was the only reason why Mark did not self-destruct as much as he could have then.”</p><p>“How much did he self-destruct?”</p><p>“Not now, Lady Onmyoji,” Jungwoo cut the conversation short, and you knew why. You could feel Mark’s presence. It would be very awkward for him to have walked in on you two discussing him like that.</p><p>Mark came running in soon after, out of breath as he bowed respectfully to the Tsukumo-gami, “I’m sorry I’m late, Master Jungwoo.”</p><p>“My brother distracted you, correct?”</p><p>“Ah, yes, I was talking to Yukhei. My bad.”</p><p>You checked your watch. Five till seven.</p><p>“I am not going to fault you for having friends, Mark. As long as you make sure to manage your time with them correctly.”</p><p>“Of course, thank you, Master Jungwoo.”</p><p>You decided to speak up, “Good morning, Mark.”</p><p>“Morning, Y/N!” He greeted you brightly, having caught his breath finally. “When did you get here? I hope I didn’t keep you two waiting long.”</p><p>“Oh, I only came five or ten minutes ago, don’t worry.”</p><p>“Once you have finished your tea, Lady Onmyoji, we will begin,” Jungwoo announced, pouring a cup for himself and Mark as well. “You finished memorizing the incantations, yes?”</p><p>“Yep! Took me most of the night, but I’ve finally got them all down.”</p><p>“Good. We will begin with casting charms over talismans today.”</p><p>Mark perked up at this, shoulders un-slouching and most traces of tiredness snapping from his body. You imagined that if he were a dog, his tail would be thumping on the ground excitedly.</p><hr/><p>The tea was quickly downed, and you were now sat at a table in one of the rooms in the shrine with Jungwoo and Mark, and it felt and looked like you were doing arts and crafts, not serious Divining. Apparently Jungwoo didn’t have just <em>have</em> spare talismans on hand, so you had to cut your own out, then poke holes into it with a large needle and thread red yarn through them, finally tying them with a tiny bow around a narrow part of the shape. It felt like you were in daycare again. You were tempted to draw faces on the little, vaguely human-shaped cut outs, just to add to the somewhat occult-ish aura of what you were doing. For funsies, you know. But you imagined that wasn’t part of the correct process. Might ruin the Onmyoji magic or whatever.</p><p>Once Jungwoo had declared that the three of you had made enough, you set down your scissors with a noticeable cramp in your hand. You’d probably made almost fifty yourself, you couldn’t imagine how you’d be using so many of them today. Even between both you and Mark.</p><p>As if he had read your mind, Jungwoo informed you, “Most will not be used today, Lady Onmyoji. The majority of these are to be your own personal stock. I recommend carrying a few with you for emergencies, once you have learned how to use them.”</p><p>“Oh, okay. Cool, thanks.”</p><p>“Talismans are very versatile when it comes to use,” he began explaining. “They can do many things if one knows how to manipulate them: give some rather deep and nasty wounds, slice through various materials, and become vessels for charms if a desired target is out of your reach. They are also sometimes necessary tools to complete certain rituals, such as the Onmyoji’s Oath. Some Onmyoji find them more favorable because they do not require as much of your energy to use. Mark, would you care to show an example of using it as a vessel for a charm?”</p><p>“Of course,” the Onmyoji nodded and stood, picking one up and settling it between his index and middle fingers.</p><p>He brought his hand in towards his chest to bend his elbow, then all at once extended it, sending the talisman flying across the room with a nearly deadly precision. It hit the old and sturdy lock on a trunk, and you heard a deep <em>click!</em> as the paper fell to the ground. The lid of the trunk popped open on its own. So Mark had unlocked and opened the trunk without touching it himself.</p><p>“That was so cool!” You exclaimed, watching Mark walk over to pick up the used talisman. It had a strange mark on it now, an ash grey depiction of a lion—Mark’s bond mark.</p><p>“Talismans cannot be reused, unfortunately,” he gestured to the design before letting you hold it.</p><p>Jungwoo cut back in, “Which is one of the reasons why many Onmyoji do not utilize them frequently, especially the more powerful ones who can do most anything without a single incantation or limitation to their powers. It requires a strategic mind to use them efficiently.”</p><p>“Oh, okay,” you nodded attentively, gracing your fingertips over the paper before setting it aside.</p><p>“For now, Lady Onmyoji, you will only need to focus on being able to activate and use them, not any sort of strategy yet.”</p><p>“Alright, I’m down.”</p><p>“Good, go ahead and take one.”</p><p>Picking one up from the pile—you could tell that you had made it because the cuts were less precise than the other two and it looked much more deformed—you held it, awaiting Jungwoo’s next instruction.</p><p>“Mark has been using talismans for many years, so he was able to do it wordlessly. You may need to recite the incantations and your intentions for some time. That is perfectly okay and—”</p><p>You’d been mindlessly playing with the talisman between your fingertips when you flicked a little too hard and it sailed away from you and hit the other stack of talismans. They all immediately caught fire, and your eyes widened as you watched the whole thing blaze.</p><p>“Shit! I’m sorry!” You apologized, frantically looking around for something to put the fire out with. But before you could secure anything to smother it with, the flames died. They had incinerated all of the paper, burned through their fuel, leaving behind only ash on the stone table.</p><p>You were still trying to apologize profusely to Mark and Jungwoo—after all, you had just wasted over an hour of work—as they both stared between the ash and you with great surprise.</p><p>“That was incredible, Lady Onmyoji,” Jungwoo praised you, reassuring smile across his lips as he patted your head. “Absolutely wonderful.”</p><p>“Uh, I just burned all of our hard work,” you pointed out sheepishly.</p><p>“Yes, we will have to make more,” he agreed, still with a proud grin on his lips. “But not only were you able to utilize the talisman as a vessel wordlessly, you seem to have a natural proclivity for fire manipulation. A rare specialty for Onmyoji, may I add. Many cannot even do the simplest of any kind of elemental manipulation in their entire lives, much less fire.”</p><p>Remembering what Mark had said about his own lack of power stemming from his scarcity of his True Ayakashi, you ducked your head to peek over at him. He wasn’t looking at you, eyes narrowed as he was apparently sending a glare at the trunk in the corner. You assumed that glare was actually meant for you, however.</p><p>“Well, we should get started on making the new talismans, right?” You desperately tried to change the subject to bring some kind of interpersonal peace back to the room.</p><p>“Yes, we should,” Jungwoo agreed, and at that, Mark took his seat back on the ground and picked up his scissors once more.</p><hr/><p>When the sun hung high and proud in the sky, Jungwoo declared the three of you should take a lunch break. You had replaced all of the talismans and began trying to correctly utilize them rather than your accidental arson from earlier. Then your stomach had growled obscenely loud, loud enough for the Tsukumo-gami to call for the break. It was right when Yukhei had returned from the city—which you could feel just as easily as a sixth sense at this point without much focus—and Mark seemed grateful for the break, rushing out front to meet the taller of the two brothers once he had been dismissed.</p><p>Yukhei had returned with food for everyone, something you were thankful for. He handed you a familiar emoji Tupperware and informed you, “Johnny said you would bring them back, Onmyoji.”</p><p>“Oh, yeah, sure, I can do that,” you accepted the food, eagerly digging in.</p><p>Jungwoo daintily ate his own food, seated beside you under a tree to the side of the shrine. A gentle breeze cooled your skin from the warm rays of the sun, and you closed your eyes for just a moment. Mark and Yukhei were seated some ways away, closer to the front of the building as the Tsukumo-gami showed the Onmyoji the mechanical bird you had spotted him working on earlier. It pecked at the handkerchief that had been placed under it for a moment before abruptly stopping, one of the wings flying off. Yukhei picked it up and took out a small screwdriver to reattach it with great care.</p><p>“Hey,” you softly got Jungwoo’s attention, wanting to address something that had been running through the back of your mind since the day before.</p><p>Jungwoo turned to you attentively, “What is it, Lady Onmyoji?”</p><p>“Should I call you Master Jungwoo? Like Mark does?”</p><p>“No, we are friends, I would prefer for you to speak with me as such. You may just call me Jungwoo,” he reassured you.</p><p>“So you and Mark aren’t friends, then?” You asked with a thoughtful frown on your lips and your head tilted slightly.</p><p>“Mark is my pupil, always has been,” he explained as he wistfully watched his brother and the Onmyoji converse. It had been the most you’d ever seen Yukhei emote or speak, honestly. “He and Yukhei are friends, they immediately hit it off as soon as Mark had stumbled in here. Mark and I on the other hand… there has always been a distance that has remained with my being his teacher, of course.”</p><p>“Then what about me? I’m your pupil now.”</p><p>“We were friends first, Lady Onmyoji. <em>And</em> you are my Onmyoji; if we had met when I was your age, over a thousand years ago, I would have called you Master instead. Times have changed, and I with them, so I believe we can address each other more simply.”</p><p>You were able to chuckle somewhat as you joked, “I don’t think you’ve changed that much with them, Jungwoo.”</p><p>It was his turn to the thoughtfully confused, “What do you mean?”</p><p>“You don’t even have a <em>landline</em>…”</p><p>“A… what?”</p><p>“That’s exactly my point.”</p><p>“I see.”</p><p>“One of these days, you’ll come down from your hermit tower into the city and see all the wonderful things us humans have made, and you’ll think we’re <em>all</em> Diviners or something,” you declared, feeling a fond nostalgia for an experience you’d never had.</p><p>“I look forward to that day then, Lady Onmyoji.”</p><p>“Me too, Jungwoo. I just hope I’ll be there for it. No pressure or anything, but I think the look on your face will be priceless.”</p><p>Jungwoo smiled genuinely over at you, “I understand and appreciate your sentiment.”</p><p>“Good.”</p><hr/><p>You had to forcibly end the day at your discretion to give yourself enough time to go home and get ready for your date that night. Giving Jungwoo your thanks and Yukhei your farewells, you descended down the mountain with Mark, your leftover talismans in both your bag and back pocket. Never knew when you’d have to reach for one quickly.</p><p>“I’m surprised you cut the training short,” Mark admitted as you navigated the trails together.</p><p>“Oh, I have a thing tonight that I need to get ready for.”</p><p>“No, I meant I’m surprised that <em>you</em> were the one who cut the training short. I would have never even <em>dreamt</em> of doing something like that.”</p><p>“What? Why not?”</p><p>At your questions, Mark turned silent, looking down at his feet again. Finally, you addressed what had been gnawing at your mind, despite Jungwoo’s explanation during lunch.</p><p>“Jungwoo treats me differently than he treats you, doesn’t he?”</p><p>“Yes,” Mark agreed bitterly, which was understandable.</p><p>“I don’t know what to say, Mark,” you admitted quietly.</p><p>“I know why.”</p><p>“What? You do?”</p><p>“You’re more powerful than me—”</p><p>“Mark—”</p><p>“No, it’s fine, Y/N, I’m not pissed about it. Okay, well maybe a little, but I’ll get over it. It’s just an objective fact, one that I need to accept. It’s nothing that you need to apologize for either, so don’t. You just are… more powerful than me. A better Onmyoji than me.”</p><p>“Well, this was only my first day of actual training and—”</p><p>“You’ll only get more powerful. Not only were you able to banish Wraiths without an incantation, but you were able to do elemental manipulation, Y/N. That’s big-time stuff.”</p><p>“It was an accident!”</p><p>“But you still <em>did</em> it!”</p><p>“That’s not even why Jungwoo treats us differently, Mark,” you circled back to the original topic, not liking where the conversation was going. “It’s because we’re different people to him.”</p><p><em>“What?”</em> He asked incredulously.</p><p>“He met you when you were young, right?”</p><p>“I was fourteen, yes.”</p><p>“You were his young pupil then, and that’s how he sees you now. I’m an adult who he met first as a friend. So that’s who I still am in his eyes, okay? It has nothing to do with our powers as Onmyoji.”</p><p>“So I should just… make him see that I’m not a little boy he’s teaching anymore.”</p><p>“Yeah,” you encouraged him, watching his expression turn from bitter to thoughtful.</p><p>“Okay, yeah, I’ll do that.”</p><p>“Don’t expect any kind of change immediately, though,” you warned with amusement in your tone. “He<em> is </em>a thousand years old; I can imagine that change does <em>not</em> come easily to him.”</p><p>“No, it definitely doesn’t,” Mark agreed with a chuckle.</p><hr/><p>The knock that came at your door that evening startled you, mostly because you’d had adrenaline pumping through your veins for the past fifteen minutes or so— ever since Jaehyun texted you that he was on his way.</p><p>Turning to the cat that had been laid next to you on the couch, you pat his head gently, “Bye, love. I’ll see you later, okay?”</p><p>Taeyong <em>mrow</em>ed in response, just in case Jaehyun could hear him. Smiling down at him appreciatively first, you then rushed to the front door to open it. Jaehyun was there on the other side, beaming at you from above a small bouquet of white roses—half a dozen. He was dressed comfortably but not necessarily unkempt in his pair of khaki pants, nice sneakers, and large, comfy-looking hoodie.</p><p>“Hey, Y/N,” he greeted you smoothly, opening his arms for you to hug him. You did, albeit with your blood still roaring in your ears.</p><p>Accepting the roses shyly, you motioned him in for a moment, “Hey. I’ll put these in some water.”</p><p>He closed the door behind him as he watched you open your kitchen cabinets and get on your tiptoes to reach for your singular vase. It had been something your mom had sent with you to your new apartment, despite you telling her you didn’t really have flowers around ever. Too expensive to get regularly. She had argued that it’d be good to have, just in case. Looks like she was right.</p><p>Even as you strained to reach, the vase was just barely millimeters from your fingertips.</p><p>“Here, I’ll—” Jaehyun moved to join you in the kitchen, presumably to get it for you with his superior height, but instead you thrusted the flowers back out to him.</p><p>“I’ve got this.”</p><p>With an eyebrow raised, he took the roses and observed as you hopped up to kneel on your counter, easily acquiring the vase this time. You closed the cabinet and turned around, sitting down before sliding off your counter and over to your sink to fill it up.</p><p>Still a little antsy with nerves, you gestured to his clothes, “Should I bring a jacket?”</p><p>You’d been wearing a pair of long pants as well, but it was your short sleeves that worried you.</p><p>“Nah, you won’t need one,” he reassured you nonchalantly, and you nodded, taking his word for it.</p><p>Once the vase was full enough, you took the roses back and deposited them into the water. They made a quiet <em>plop!</em> sound as the stems broke the surface. Looking back up from the task to Jaehyun, you felt your chest constrict for a moment as you were caught off-guard once again by how handsome he was.</p><p>He asked, “Ready to go?”</p><p>“Yep, yep,” you nodded, following behind him through your apartment. By the front door, you gave a final goodbye to Taeyong, “Bye, bud! See you when I get home!”</p><p>“Bye Tama!” Jaehyun cheerfully waved to him as well, making you giggle at how Taeyong narrowed his eyes at his cat name.</p><p>You turned to make sure to lock your door behind you, only to realize that someone was already in the process of doing so. Struggling against the opposing force for an awkward amount of time, you subtly kicked the bottom of the door with your foot, then groaned to both Jaehyun on your side and Taeyong on the other side, “Stupid <em>door!</em> Never does what I <em>want</em> it to!”</p><p>“Maybe you should have your landlord take a look at that.”</p><p>“Yeah, maybe I should,” you agreed facetiously as Taeyong finally seemed to understand what was happening and gave up, allowing you to smoothly lock the door. “There we go! Ready!”</p><hr/><p>Jaehyun hadn’t told you any details for this date other than the day and time, so you had no clue where exactly you were going until the two of you reached the base of the mountain. You brushed it off, it was a big mountain, there was no way you’d be going anywhere near the shrine. Not to mention it had the cloaking charm on it, the odds of you finding it accidentally were next to none.</p><p>He split off from the main trailhead at a less-worn path, your heart threatening to leap to your throat. There was still two-thirds of the mountain in this direction, it would be fine.</p><p>Then he took yet another familiar turn, and another after that. You weren’t sure Jaehyun knew exactly where he was going, probably just looking for a clearing so you two could actually see the night sky. But nevertheless, he was still getting nail-bitingly close to the location of the shrine.</p><p>You kept your position beside him, stomach dropping as he took yet another random turn that brought you fifty feet from the shrine.</p><p>“Do you even know where we’re going, Jae?” You went to tease him lightly, trying to cover up your anxiety over the possibility of him stumbling upon your Tsukumo-gami friends.</p><p>“I know <em>exactly</em> where we’re going,” he retorted fondly. “Somewhere we can see the stars.”</p><p>“I think there might have been a place like five minutes back.”</p><p>“No, the trees are thinning now, you see?”</p><p>Unfortunately, he was right. But still, you couldn’t let him find the shrine. Not now, not tonight.</p><p>The two of you had kept trekking through the trees while you spoke, and you suddenly grabbed his arm, spinning him around to look at you. He was literally a hair’s width away from the edge of the cloaking charm. A single movement backwards and the shrine would become fully visible to him.</p><p>“What’s up, Y/N?” He tilted his head curiously to ask you.</p><p>“Uhm,” you gulped, very clearly sensing Jungwoo and Yukhei just on the other side of the border. And surely, they could sense you too. You couldn’t risk one of them coming out to see you. Shifting your eyes around, you pointed to your right, away from the shrine, “What about that way?”</p><p>Jaehyun shrugged, “Looks promising.”</p><p>Holding in your sigh of relief, you started to turn in that direction. Unfortunately, the two of you had moved at the same time and bumped into each other, falling directly through the cloaking charm. You let out a rather embarrassing yelp as you fell half on top of Jaehyun and half on the ground.</p><p>“Woah, Y/N, are you okay?” He asked from below you.</p><p>But you couldn’t focus on your own well-being, or your current position atop your date, or anything except for the fact that you had crossed through the cloaking charm. Scrambling to your feet, you held onto a desperate hope that maybe you could yank him away before he turned around and saw it. Until he looked around to gain his bearings once more.</p><p>“Where’d that come from?” He stared directly at the shrine.</p><p>“Uh, I don’t know,” you blurted out. “I saw some kind of big shadow through the trees, I think this was it.”</p><p>“Huh,” he looked at it with intrigue before turning to you conspiratorially. “What do you say we put stargazing on hold and go adventuring instead?”</p><p>Oh <em>hell</em> no. As soon as he stepped foot in the shrine, he would realize it was populated. There was a reason Jungwoo stayed up here, far away from the city and all the people there. You didn’t know exactly why, but you knew you wanted to respect that.</p><p>Swallowing your pride of your reputation as Occasionally a Bad Bitch, you clutched onto his arm and squeaked out loudly, “No, Jaehyun, I don’t think we should stay here.”</p><p>“What’s wrong?” Jaehyun looked down at you with concern.</p><p>Really leaning into it, you let your voice crack as if you were about to cry, still loudly declaring, “This place looks abandoned, it’s kind of scary! What if it’s haunted? <em>Please</em>, let’s go somewhere else!”</p><p>“Okay,” he immediately moved to hug you to his chest, rubbing a soothing hand up and down your back. “I’m sorry, we’ll go stargaze.”</p><p>Maybe sacrificing your reputation wasn’t so bad.</p><p>Letting go of you, he took your hand in his to guide you back away from the shrine. You took one last look over your shoulder, spotting a candle flickering in one of the windows. Your shouting must have startled one of the inhabitants. But you couldn’t dwell on it, taking off through the forest with Jaehyun.</p><hr/><p>Finally, you found a suitable place to stargaze and stopped, watching Jaehyun put out the blanket that had been in the pack on his back. You laid down on it, lacing your hands behind your head as a cushion. Immediately, you were amazed by the night sky. You weren’t too far from the city, so there wasn’t an <em>incredible</em> amount of stars, but it was definitely more than you could see from your apartment.</p><p>Jaehyun laid beside you, draping a blanket over your legs. You let out a deep sigh, finally feeling relaxed again. But just a few minutes later, the coolness of the nighttime mountain air, ground, and breeze got to you, and you found yourself borderline shivering.</p><p>“Jae, I’m cold,” you grumbled, tucking your chilly fingers under your back.</p><p>“Well come here,” he opened up his arms for you, and you immediately scooted closer into them, letting him pull you to his chest. He rubbed a hand up and down your arm, tucking you under his chin and pulling the blanket tighter around the two of you, “Warm?”</p><p>“Yeah…” you mumbled, heat now rushing to your cheeks instead.</p><p>He hummed contentedly, and you prayed that he couldn’t see your bashful features in the dim lighting.</p><p>“You lied to me on purpose, didn’t you?”</p><p>“I didn’t lie; I said you wouldn’t <em>need</em> a jacket. And you don’t, you’ve got me.”</p><p>“Ah, technicalities.”</p><p>Jaehyun snickered, squeezing you just a little tighter, and you hoped he couldn’t feel how fast your heart was beating against him.</p><p>“So, any constellations to point out to me?” He asked.</p><p>“Nope,” you answered truthfully.</p><p>“You’re the one who wanted to go on a stargazing date.”</p><p>“Yeah, and? Doesn’t mean I know anything about them, I just think they’re cool.”</p><p>He chuckled, the sound vibrating against you, “I shouldn’t have expected anything else.”</p><p>Your next witty retort had just formed on your lips when your throat seized up. You coughed awkwardly through it, more focused on what had stopped you. A Wraith. You could sense it, nearby.</p><p>“Woah, Y/N, you good?” Jaehyun gently patted your back. “Want some water?”</p><p>“Fine, fine, I don’t know what that was,” you absentmindedly answered, actually paying attention to the Wraith sensation. It was getting closer.</p><p>Jumping up to your feet, you grabbed your phone from your pocket, plausible story already forming in your mind, “I’m getting a call, sorry. I’ll be right back.”</p><p>And you took off into the trees, beelining for the Wraith. No way were you about to let this Wraith ruin your date. Or, at least, you weren’t going to let it <em>attack</em> your date. You seemed to be doing pretty well ruining the date for yourself without any help from a Wraith. You couldn’t see much in the dark, but it wasn’t too far away, maybe a five or six second jog. Definitely still within a reasonable earshot of Jaehyun. Thankfully, you had just learned how to banish Wraiths with no incantation that day.</p><p>The Wraith was alone, just kind of hovering there. But oddly enough, now that you were closer to it, you sense something else. Something mixed in with the Wraith sensation. Something oddly familiar. It made no move to attack you, seemingly looking right into your soul. And you were looking right back, lost in the red orbs.</p><p>“Mark?” You blurted out, head tilted to the side and brow furrowed.</p><p>Then all at once the Wraith was gone.</p><p>You were stood there frozen until you heard Jaehyun’s voice just a second later.</p><p>“Y/N?”</p><p>“Yeah, over here,” you turned back towards him to call out.</p><p>Jaehyun emerged through the trees, odd look on his face, “Did I hear you say Mark?”</p><p>“He uh—he called me, I wasn’t expecting it. Told him not to bother me any more tonight.”</p><p>“Okay, well you didn’t have to run out here to tell him off. I would’ve enjoyed hearing that back at the blanket,” he joked half-heartedly.</p><p>“I’ll remember that for next time, then,” you tried to quip back.</p><p>“Next time…”</p><p>“There’s going to be a next time, right?” You asked nervously, picking at your fingernails. “Despite the… everything.”</p><p>“What do you mean?”</p><p>“I’ve been acting all, you know, weird. Unless you think this is my perfectly normal behavior, then I need to do some serious self-reflection.”</p><p>Jaehyun shook his head, “No, you <em>have</em> been a bit off tonight. I figured you just thought this was too weird, us going on a date.”</p><p>“No, no!” You immediately went to reassure him, moving towards him to grab his hand and squeeze it. “I’m just… nervous, okay?”</p><p>“Alright,” he grinned brightly, lacing his fingers with yours to start leading the way back.</p><p>Sitting back on the blanket with Jaehyun, you prayed for no more distractions or unfortunate events that you’d have to cover for. You just wanted a nice, normal date. Jaehyun sat down first, and you immediately snuggled up against his side, for warmth, and to prove to yourself that you could get over your own nerves. Your “SCS” wasn’t going to get the better of you. This was going to be a nice date, even if it killed you. Which, hopefully it wouldn’t, because you definitely wanted to go on a second date. And third.</p><p>He wrapped his arms back around you, pulling you closer until you were half-sitting on his lap, which you didn’t mind. And you two talked. You chatted about this and that, school and work, family and friends. He told you about a new book he had been reading, and you told him about the crime drama you had been watching. When he brought up the fact that he had barely finished grading the quizzes for his Composition I class before he left to pick you up, you suddenly remembered that he was a TA. Specifically, <em>your</em> TA.</p><p>You sat up a little straighter to question, “Is this even allowed? Can you date a student in a class that you’re a TA for?”</p><p>Jaehyun exhaled before answering honestly, “It’s… definitely frowned upon. But as long as I don’t show any bias towards you academically, then they can’t do anything about it.”</p><p>“So you’re <em>not</em> going to give me all the answers for the tests? Well, never mind then,” you said jokingly, placing your hands down on the blanket as if you were going to push yourself up and out of his arms.</p><p>But he just tightened his hold on you and pulled you back to his chest, humming teasingly, “Too late to back out now.”</p><p>“Aw, shucks. Guess I’ll just date you for you, then,” you sighed, leaning against him happily. After a moment, you slyly asked, “First date and it’s too late?”</p><p>“Y/N,” he sighed out your name, clasping a hand over your cheek to lift your head up and press your foreheads together. “I have been trying to figure out how to ask you out for <em>years</em>. So for me, at least, it’s too late.”</p><p>“Are you shitting me?”</p><p>“Nope.”</p><p>“How many years, exactly?”</p><p>“Honestly, since high school,” he chuckled awkwardly, his breath fanning over your face as his eyes were downcast, looking to your laps. And that was the first time that whole night that you could tell that he wasn’t this cool, suave guy who had this whole thing planned out to woo you. He was just as nervous as you were, just better at hiding it.</p><p>You breathed out, “Woah.”</p><p>“Not that I’ve been creepily pining after you since high school,” he rushed to explain his previous confession. “But I’ve just always kind of liked you, and… the opportunity never presented itself, I guess? I’m not explaining this very well, am I?”</p><p>“I think I get what you’re trying to say,” you reassured him, placing your own hand over his on your cheek.</p><p>“You do?”</p><p>“Yeah,” you nodded slightly, your forehead pushing against his for a moment before you leaned forward, slotting your lips with his.</p><p>Jaehyun let out a small noise of surprise, one that was muffled against your mouth, before he relaxed into it, kissing you back softly.</p><hr/><p>The next morning you woke up to a paw in your face, and you swatted it away with a grumble. Rolling over, you buried your face in your pillow. You were <em>this close</em> to falling back asleep when this time a human hand shook your shoulder.</p><p>“<em>What,</em> Taeyong?” You pulled your face back out of the pillow to spit out.</p><p>“There’s someone at the door,” he informed you. “Two someones. Jaemin and Yuta, specifically.”</p><p>You groaned, “Oh, I forgot we had brunch plans today, great.”</p><p>Grabbing your phone from the nightstand, you saw several missed calls and texts, then the screen was overtaken by a new incoming call. Jaemin.</p><p>You picked it up, “Morning, NaNa.”</p><p>“Good morning, Y/N!” He chirped back. “Glad to hear you’re not dead. Can you let us in?”</p><p>“Yeah, give me a second.”</p><p>Hanging back up, you turned to Taeyong, “Cat, please.”</p><p>He obliged before slinking out of your bedroom and down the short hallway with you. You unlocked your door, opening it up for your friends to come in. Jaemin hastily threw his arms around your neck, pushing you back into your apartment. Yuta closed the door behind the two of you, eyes already locked on Taeyong on the ground. The Nekomata bristled momentarily, and you could imagine him warning Yuta not to try anything while he had to stay in his cat form.</p><p>“Hey, guys,” you yawned, pulling back from Jaemin. “Let me go get changed. Please don’t harass my cat.”</p><p>“No promises!” Jaemin replied, making Taeyong’s hackles go up even more.</p><p>You retreated into your bedroom, quickly finding an appropriate outfit. Next step was to do something with your hair, then brush your teeth and meet your friends back in your living room. Jaemin was kneeling on your couch, leaning over the back, seemingly trying to grab something behind there.</p><p>“Leave Tama alone!” You chastised him, immediately knowing what he was reaching for.</p><p>“He loves me!” Jaemin argued back.</p><p>Before you could deal with him, Yuta had gone over to the couch, grabbing him by his shirt and yanking him back from the couch, “Seriously, leave him alone, Jaemin.”</p><p>“I just want to love on him!”</p><p>“He doesn’t <em>want</em> you to love on him.”</p><p>Taeyong padded out from behind the couch to run over to you, and you crouched down to stroke his head reassuringly.</p><p>“Sorry, NaNa,” you shrugged to your friend, stroking from Taeyong’s nose to his tail before moving to stand up. “Alright, let’s go.”</p><p>“So… did you sleep through your alarm?” Yuta asked as he led the way out of your apartment.</p><p>“I didn’t set one,” you answered, locking the door behind you. “I’m usually up by now normally; I didn’t think I had to set one.”</p><p>“Oh, and what could have made you so tired?”</p><p>You glared at him knowingly, “We went <em>stargazing</em> last night, the stars are out pretty late.”</p><p>“You two didn’t do <em>anything else</em> that could have made you so tired?”</p><p>“Nope.”</p><p>“So you two only admitted your feelings to each other because you nearly fucked, then on your first date you <em>didn’t</em> fuck?”</p><p>“Good summarizing, Yuta. A-plus on comprehension and paraphrasing skills.”</p><p>Jaemin snickered from your other side as you three emerged onto the sidewalks. He leaned behind you to push on Yuta’s shoulder, “Leave her alone, Yuta. They’re taking it at their own pace.”</p><p>“I’m not saying there’s a right or wrong way, just clarifying,” he held up his hands defensively.</p><p>“Anyway, start over from the beginning, Y/N!”</p><p>And so you described the date from start to finish to your two friends, leaving out or modifying certain details—for your human friend’s sake, later you’d probably tell the Kitsune the real story; he’d definitely get a kick out of it. When you got to the part about your “phone call” from Mark, you found your mind fixating on the real part of that. You’d sensed Mark underneath the Wraith sensation for some reason. There had to be a good explanation. Maybe he had just been visiting Jungwoo or Yukhei and because the shrine was so close and your nerves were so frazzled, you’d gotten the signals mixed up. That made sense.</p><hr/><p>Monday morning came upon you rather quickly, but you couldn’t bring yourself to even grumble at waking up so early. You were seeing Jaehyun again today.</p><p>You eagerly went through the motions of your morning routine at perhaps a record pace, giving Taeyong a rather rushed goodbye at the front door before you took off for your school. Unsurprisingly, due to your haste, you were the first person to arrive to the quad, and you couldn’t stop yourself from bouncing on your heels as you waited for the others to arrive. Well, more like you couldn’t stop yourself from bouncing on your heels as you waited for <em>Jaehyun</em> to arrive. You didn’t have your next date planned yet, but you were excited for it, and excited that your strange behavior hadn’t scared him away at your last one.</p><p>Yuta was the first to get there after you, and he immediately laid down on the concrete planter in front of you. He let out a yawn, “I’ll never get used to 8 a.m. classes, I swear. I have no clue how we did this every day in high school; I can barely do it twice a week.”</p><p>“You were young and had abundant energy back then, Yuta,” you teased.</p><p>“Oh, right, I forgot that I was old and decrepit now.”</p><p>You clicked your tongue, “I don’t how you could forget, those old bones must be so difficult to get out of bed with every morning.”</p><p>“If my creaky joints weren’t so fragile, I’d get up and would smack you upside the head.”</p><p>“No, you wouldn’t.”</p><p>“And why wouldn’t I?”</p><p>You poked your cheeks with your fingers and tweaked them, an obnoxiously bright grin on your lips, “Because I’m just too damn cute!”</p><p>“She’s right on that,” a voice was behind you, and you spun around to see Jaehyun, immediately dropping your hands from your face to greet him.</p><p>“Oh, hey Jae!”</p><p>“Hey, Y/N,” he pecked your forehead, bringing a slight warmth to your skin.</p><p>Yuta groaned, throwing an arm over his eyes, “Great, now I’m third-wheeling until Jaemin gets here.”</p><p>You and Jaehyun exchanged a look before you decided to change the subject, “How was work yesterday, Jae?”</p><p>“On my lunch break I was reading and spilled my orange soda all over my book.”</p><p>“Oh, that’s so sad.”</p><p>“If you weren’t a peak physical specimen who has been boxing since middle school, I’d call you a fucking nerd,” Yuta snorted, rolling onto his side to squint his eyes back open at you two.</p><p>Jaehyun laughed and brought a hand up to muss up his hair, a habit you’d picked up on over the years that was now simultaneously endearing and infuriating as you had to the urge to fix the messy hair. And so you did, rising up on your toes to be able to accurately brush the stray strands back into place with concentration. Jaehyun had frozen to let you do so, watching you with something that could only be called adoration.</p><p>“Great to see that you two have already moved onto acting like a married couple.”</p><p>Ah, Jaemin had arrived.</p><p>You looked over to your other side to see your friend approaching, knowing smirk on his face as he observed you and Jaehyun. The newcomer went to sit down beside Yuta, and the Kitsune immediately grabbed his hand.</p><p>“Oh, thank god you’re here, Jaemin!” He bemoaned dramatically. “I was going to die sitting here as the only third wheel! At least now we can third wheel together.”</p><p>Dropping back onto flat feet, now satisfied with the state of Jaehyun’s hair, you rolled your eyes, “You are absolutely ridiculous, Nakamoto Yuta.”</p><p>“As I’ve been telling him for years,” Jaehyun agreed with you.</p><p>Jaemin patted Yuta’s hair, “I’m so sorry to hear your opinion on third wheeling Yuta, but I actually wanted to hang out with all of us together again sometime this week.”</p><p>“I think I’ll be the most available Friday after my class,” you offered up.</p><p>“I could do dinner on Friday,” Jaehyun added.</p><p>“What about you, Yuta?” Jaemin prompted the Kitsune. “Oh, and is Taeyong still in town? He can come too!”</p><p>Yuta’s eyes flashed over to you deviously, and you could easily guess what he was about to say.</p><p>“Yes, my<em> friend</em> Taeyong is still in town. We would <em>love</em> to get dinner with you guys Friday!” He gushed, flicking his devilish grin between you and Jaehyun next. “You can introduce him to Jaehyun, Y/N!”</p><p>“Who’s Taeyong?” Jaehyun piped up curiously.</p><p>“My <em>best friend</em> from out of town, he’s here visiting for a bit. Y/N, Jaemin, and him got dinner one night when I was busy.”</p><p>Yuta’s escalation from friend to best friend made you stifle an incredulous chuckle. Oh, Taeyong is going to <em>kill</em> him.</p><p>“Yeah, he’s a cool guy!” Jaemin piped up. “But a bit forgetful, right?”</p><p>“Definitely.”</p><p>Jaemin was quick to explain to Jaehyun, “He forgot his wallet when we got dinner and Y/N had to pay for him.”</p><p>“Anyway, where should we go Friday?” You changed the topic.</p><p>Jaehyun whispered to you, “I know what Jaemin’s going to suggest…”</p><p>“Lenticular?” Jaemin’s voice pitched up hopefully as soon as the TA had finished his previous words, making you giggle.</p><p>“I’m down, we’ve just got to make sure we actually bring money this time,” you said. “Don’t want an earful from Renjun.”</p><p>“I’ll see if I can drag Jeno out again too!”</p><p>“Oh, yay, the more the merrier,” you grimaced. The more of your Ayakashi friends that were involved, the higher the risk you ran of Taeyong’s actual role being revealed. You’d just have to send a blanket text in the group chat. Oh, you’d also have to talk to Mark and send a note to Jungwoo to see if you could move your training session up by an hour or so.</p><p>Jaehyun glanced down at his watch in that moment, then tapped your elbow to get your attention, “We should head to class.”</p><p>Nodding, you said goodbye to your friends, “See you guys later!”</p><p>Walking away with Jaehyun, you weren’t sure if you should hold his hand or not. Sure, you <em>wanted</em> to, but you’d only gone on one date. Like Jaemin had said in his apartment that night after your study session, you were pretty inexperienced with relationships. Not to mention that you had a propensity to overthink things—both big and small, both familiar and unfamiliar to you.</p><p>Besides, you didn’t really want your classmates or professor knowing so early into your relationship—which it might not even be, you’d only gone on one date. You weren’t sure you wanted them to <em>ever</em> know, actually, if this went any further. It was almost midterms time, just a few more months and then you’d most likely never see your professor or most of your classmates for the rest of your life. Perfect.</p><p>“We’re getting our hint sheet for the midterm today, right?” You asked Jaehyun, wracking through your brain to remember the syllabus off the top of your head.</p><p>“Yeah,” he confirmed. “My Comp I students are too.”</p><p>“How do you like teaching, by the way?”</p><p>“I like it.”</p><p>“Enough that you definitely want to do it forever?”</p><p>“Yeah, I think so,” he nodded resolutely, a pleased smile coming to his face.</p><p>“Good,” you bumped his shoulder with yours.</p><hr/><p>Tuesday afternoon found you back at the shrine with Mark and Jungwoo, finishing out your Onmyoji training for the day. You were sure Jungwoo would have wanted to continue, but you unfortunately had several midterm review sheets to work on, so you made sure the session ended earlier than usual.</p><p>Slinging your backpack over your shoulder, you bounded over towards the entrance to the shrine, waiting up for Mark for the two of you to make the trek back down together like you usually did.</p><p>“Oh, you can go ahead, Y/N,” he dismissed you. “I’m staying to hang out with Yukhei.”</p><p>“Alright, have fun!” You waved goodbye to the three of them before taking off down the mountain.</p><p>You pulled out your phone to call Jaehyun, putting the device next to your ear as you listened to it ring. Once, twice, three, four times before he picked up.</p><p>“Hey,” his voice carried through your speakers as you watched your step going down the unused portion of trail that you were still on.</p><p>“Hey, Jae!” You greeted him brightly. “Can I come study at the shop again today? I’ll buy you dinner.”</p><p>“Sure, yeah,” he agreed. “The pile is always open for you.”</p><p>“Cool, thanks. I’ll be there in fifteen or twenty.”</p><p>“See you then.”</p><p>“See you.”</p><hr/><p>The raspberry door greeted you twenty-five minutes later, and you were surprised to see that there were customers in the shop. A couple, two guys holding hands as one flipped through albums and the other looked on, entirely disinterested in the music but definitely interested in his boyfriend. Jaehyun looked up from his book to you with a smile, watching as you walked around the counter.</p><p>“Hey, Jae,” you returned the smile, pecking his cheek in passing.</p><p>“I was about to start getting worried, Y/N,” he said teasingly, and looped an arm around your waist to pull you back towards him.</p><p>“Hit all the crosswalks at the wrong time.”</p><p>“Ah, gotcha.”</p><p>“Anyway, I’m going to try to outline my first essay for World Lit, then I was planning on heading down to Lenticular to get some takeout; I have some containers to return to Johnny anyway.”</p><p>“Sounds good to me.”</p><p>“Good.”</p><p>“Good.”</p><p>He still hadn’t let go of you, and you looked down at him with an eyebrow raised. Jaehyun simply smiled up at you with that adorable dimpled smile and you found your heart racing even faster with every passing moment, not knowing what exactly he wanted from you.</p><p>After another few moments of silence, you finally asked, “Yes?”</p><p>He glanced over at the customers before gesturing for you to get closer. You obliged, bending down to rest your elbows on the counter and lean closer to him. He conspiratorially lowered his voice to ask, “Is this our second date, then?”</p><p>“You working and me studying? How romantic,” you snorted sarcastically. “But sure, Jae, we can call it our second date.”</p><p>“Cool.”</p><p>“Can I go study now?”</p><p>“One more thing.”</p><p>“Yes?”</p><p>In a move that shouldn’t have surprised you, he shot forward to lock his lips with yours. A short and sweet kiss that ended almost as soon as you knew it was happening, Jaehyun returning to his book as if nothing had happened.</p><p>Not having a good comeback to that, you simply dropped your bag to the ground beside the nest—Johnny’s emoji tupperwares rattling inside—then dropped <em>yourself</em> onto the nest and took out your World Literature midterm hints and got to work.</p><p>The couple checked out sometime later, but you barely registered it as you fervently flipped through your textbook to find that one specific quote you knew would be good for your point before scrawling it down.</p><hr/><p>After finally finishing your outline, you checked the time. Right around a good time to go get dinner. Your stomach growled. Okay, <em>perfect</em> time to go get dinner.</p><p>On your feet, you cracked your back once more, then slung your half-empty bag over your shoulder. You left all of your school stuff out to make it easier to get back into the groove after your dinner break. Walking all the way around the counter, you mischievously flicked Jaehyun’s book closed. His thumb was on the page, meaning he didn’t actually lose his spot, but he still looked up from it with slight annoyance.</p><p>“I’m heading to Lenticular now. Be back soon,” you informed him.</p><p>“Alright,” he stood up from his stool to lean forward and peck your forehead. “Be safe.”</p><p>Stepping back from the counter with wide eyes, you choked out, “Will do.”</p><hr/><p>At Lenticular, you had barely set foot in the café when Renjun spotted you, gesturing for you to wait as he attended to a table. You took the time to bring the empty containers out from your bag. Holding them out to him as he came back to the host’s stand, you were surprised to have him immediately replace them with ones already filled with food, still warm.</p><p>“How—”</p><p>“Your boyfriend called ahead.”</p><p>Not even having the wherewithal to correct Renjun on the fact that you’d only technically gone on <em>one</em> date with Jaehyun and he most definitely was <em>not</em> your boyfriend at that point in time, you instead went to reach for your wallet.</p><p>“He also paid ahead too.”</p><p>“Then—”</p><p>“Goodbye.”</p><p>And so you left Lenticular Café.</p><hr/><p>Strangely, when you got back to Vivi’s Vintage Vinyls, the lights were off inside, and the closed sign was flipped around. Weird. Did Jaehyun just… <em>forget</em> that you were bringing him dinner? And that all your stuff was inside? And that the shop was supposed be open for another two hours?</p><p>Doubtful that it would work, you tried the handle nonetheless. It opened. You could at least get your things. But as soon as you had entered the dark shop, you heard a click and suddenly caught sight of a light from your left. Walking around the counter, you saw Jaehyun sitting cross-legged on the floor behind the counter, a flickering candle lit in front of him as he then lit two more on either side of the first. Two wine glasses were set out, one with a can of Sunkist beside it and the other with your own favorite non-alcoholic beverage.</p><p>“Oh…” you breathed out, irrepressible grin coming to your face as you took it in.</p><p>“Is this a little bit more of a romantic second date than just studying and working?” He quipped, eyebrow quirking up.</p><p>You nodded, sitting down in a little bit of a daze. Jaehyun took the food containers from your hands and opened them up, laying out the food in front of the two of you. He cracked open your drink first, pouring it to the appropriate level that one would typically pour wine into a wine glass, despite it most definitely not being wine. Then he opened his own with a satisfying sizzle and served himself in a similar fashion.</p><p>“Can you close the shop just to have dinner with me?” You asked curiously as he took out utensils for the two of you.</p><p>“Don’t worry, I asked my manager.”</p><p>“Aren’t you the manager?”</p><p>“Exactly.”</p><p>“Oh my god.”</p><p>“I don’t mind bending the rules for you, Y/N, you might want to get used to it instead of questioning me every time I do it.”</p><p>Silent for a moment as you absentmindedly traced the rim of your glass, you relented, “Fine.”</p><p>“Nice,” he grinned, holding his own wine glass up towards you. Getting the hint, you clinked them together before taking a sip.</p><p>“So what are you reading?” You gestured towards the counter above you where his closed book was.</p><p>“The Iliad, again.”</p><p>“You like it, then?”</p><p>“Yes, and it’s the next assigned reading for your class; I always make sure to have the story fresh in my mind before you guys start it.”</p><p>“That’s nice. I don’t think Dr. Kwan has read half the stuff that he makes us read. Or, he at least hasn’t read it in decades.”</p><p>“Dr. Kwan is barely in his thirties, did you know that?”</p><p>“He doesn’t look like it.”</p><p>“You’re mean.”</p><p>“But I’m right, right? He looks like he’s at least fifty!”</p><p>Jaehyun gave you a pointed look before it broke into a guilty smile, “I’d say no more than forty-five.”</p><p>“You’re too kind, Jae,” you snickered. “The Iliad is about a war, right?”</p><p>He raised an eyebrow, “You know anything more about it than that?”</p><p>“I think I read an excerpt of when Achilles drags Hector’s body around behind the chariot after Hector killed Achilles’ boyfriend.”</p><p>“Patroclus.”</p><p>“Yeah, him,” you took a bite of your food then washed it down before adding, “It was on some reading comprehension test I took in middle school. I didn’t like it too much.”</p><p>“Why not? It’s a great piece.”</p><p>You shrugged, “I just couldn’t get past the actual <em>words</em> they were saying. It didn’t make sense to me, I didn’t know what was happening whatsoever.”</p><p>Jaehyun quickly went to swallow his bite in order to say, “It wasn’t really meant to be <em>read</em>, it was meant to be listened to. It was originally an oral tradition, passed down from generation to generation. It was something where a whole town would get together and listen to someone—who spent months or years of his life memorizing it—recite it to them. Storytellers. Like how we would go to the movies nowadays. Homer was just the first guy that we know of who wrote it down.”</p><p>“If only I lived in 300 BC Greece, or whenever Homer was around,” you retorted with feigned wistfulness.</p><p>“Closer to 700 BC.”</p><p>“Oh, you big nerd,” you shot back teasingly. “My point still stands: it’s hard for me to read, therefore hard to understand, and therefore I can’t get into the actual story or know what’s happening.”</p><p>Jaehyun’s food was already half gone, and he pushed it aside before rising up onto his knees. With only minor difficulty in stretching his legs, torso, and arm enough, he secured his book from the counter. He plopped back down into his sitting position and opened it up to the beginning.</p><p>“It’s obviously not in the original Greek so the rhymes, meter, and rhythm with be off, and I’m no trained storyteller, but I think you might like it better this way.”</p><p>Intrigued, you set your eating utensils aside to listen intently to Jaehyun.</p><p>As he started reading, it reminded you of that time in your apartment when he was reading the poems aloud to you. You found that you weren’t paying much attention to the words he was saying exactly, but how nice they all sounded together and coming out of his mouth, and the lilts and intonation of his voice.</p><p>He occasionally would look up as he read, probably to see if you were still paying attention or not, but for the most part, his focus was down on the words below him. Even just watching him read was enough to hold your attention, when paired with listening to him as well created a rather entrancing effect over your whole being. You could’ve sat there forever and listened to Jung Jaehyun read to you.</p><p>And you must have, as he stopped for longer than he had before, closing the book on his thumb to keep his page as he looked up at you expectantly.</p><p>“Well? Any better?” He prompted you.</p><p>“Yeah, I liked it,” you nodded quickly. “Thank you.”</p><p>His features broke into his signature dimpled smile, “Of course, Y/N.”</p><hr/><p>Looking down at your phone for the time, you saw that it was rather late. Definitely later than the shop was open, you were pretty sure. The two of you had finished your food and drink, and you had no want to continue your studying for the night. Go to sleep with nice thoughts in your brain, like Jung Jaehyun, rather than thoughts of Literature or Calculus, <em>that’s</em> what you wanted.</p><p>Jaehyun had also checked the time, and now clicked his tongue, “Alright, time to start closing up for the night. If you don’t mind staying, I want to walk you home. There shouldn’t be too much to do.”</p><p>“I don’t mind,” you reassured him, equally wanting to prolong your time together.</p><p>“Can you turn the lights on for me?”</p><p>Walking over to the switches on the wall he had gestured to, you did so, the store suddenly becoming much too bright. As your eyes adjusted, Jaehyun blew out the candles then took them and the wine glasses into the back office, presumably where they had been before. He put his stuff away before attending to the actual needs of the store: counting change in the register, replacing some records that customers had taken out but didn’t purchase, double-checking the safe in the office, things like that. He met you at the front door to set the security alarm and turn off the lights, then stopped on the sidewalk in front of it to properly lock the store as well.</p><p>After he put his keys away, he turned to you with finality, and took your hand to start down the street with you. You found yourself smiling like a fool, ridiculously happy to just hold his hand.</p><p>“Jae.”</p><p>“Hm?”</p><p>You stopped the two of you on the rather barren sidewalk, deftly rising up on your toes to peck his lips before pulling away just as quick and resuming your walk.</p><p>“And what was that for?”</p><p>“Just wanted to.”</p><p>There was a beat of silence before Jaehyun broke it.</p><p>“Y/N.”</p><p>“Hm?”</p><p>He halted you to tug on your hand, jerking you closer to him until you were pressed up to him, able to feel the warmth of his body encompassing your own. Instead of making it short and sweet like you did, he simply looked down at you, smirking as he watched your eyes flutter shut in anticipation then squint open with suspicion. Right as you had opened your mouth to question him, he then swooped down to lock his lips with yours. It was a deep, dizzying kiss, one that swept you off your feet and made your head spin. Or maybe that was the lack of oxygen. You didn’t particularly care in that moment, just happy to clutch at his shirt and feel his mouth against yours.</p><p>After what felt like simultaneously a millennium and a millisecond, the two of you broke apart.</p><p>You were sure that you looked like you’d just gotten kissed well: hair a little mussed up from where his fingers had laced through your locks, lips probably a little kiss-swollen, eyes wide and pupils blown out as you gazed up at him.</p><p>To your credit, Jaehyun looked just as you did: shirt now crumpled from your grip, cheeks flushed, and eyes so dark you could see your own image reflected back in them in the illumination from the streetlight.</p><p>“What was that for?” You could barely croak out, voice embarrassingly shaky.</p><p>Jaehyun’s own tone was thicker and deeper as he replied, “I just wanted to.”</p><hr/><p>Outside your apartment door, you didn’t want to leave Jaehyun. You were clinging to him during your goodbye hug, your chest twinging with the need to just be around him in that moment. You could invite him in, but you didn’t want to risk one thing leading to another and Taeyong being present for… <em>something</em>, again.</p><p>“That was a wonderful second date, Jaehyun, thank you,” you murmured into his neck, hoping he could make out your words in the nearly silent hallway.</p><p>He must have, as he replied aptly, “Of course, Y/N. I’m glad you enjoyed it.”</p><p>Reluctantly pulling back from him, you unlocked your door and turned the handle. But you made no further moves. As if he could read your mind, and knew what you were waiting for before you knew it, Jaehyun pecked your lips then your forehead in slow succession, making you feel like you were on Cloud 9 for just a moment.</p><p>“Goodnight, Y/N,” he sighed, warm breath washing over your forehead where he had just left a kiss.</p><p>“Goodnight, Jae,” you echoed, offering up a pleased smile before finally properly opening your door.</p><p>You closed it behind you slowly, and even watched through the peephole after it had clicked shut. Jaehyun stood there in front of your door, absolutely smitten grin on his face as he tapped a finger to his bottom lip almost reminiscently. He stood there for just another moment before turning and walking back towards the staircase. Once he was out of sight, you finally walked further into your apartment, feet guiding you to your bedroom, where you promptly and willingly flopped down onto your bed, chest swelling, mind buzzing, and skin tingling.</p>
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<a name="section0004"><h2>4. [four]</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Opening your front door that Friday afternoon, you half-smiled and half-grimaced at Yuta, letting him enter your apartment. The grimace wasn’t because your friend was over at your place, the grimace was for the <em>reason</em> that he was at your place. Jaehyun had insisted on picking you up for the Lenticular dinner, and you had to have a good reason for Taeyong already being at your apartment. And thus, Yuta was here to help cover, make it seem like he had brought Taeyong over and all three of you were hanging out beforehand. Perfectly normal.</p><p>“Hey, Yuta, thanks for coming over,” you closed the door behind him.</p><p>“No problem,” he reassured you, eyes already locked on Taeyong sitting in the corner of the couch, fists clenched and ears popping out just to angrily flatten against his head. “Hey, pretty kitty.”</p><p>“I have dishes to finish. Play nice, boys,” you warned them lowly before retreating into your kitchen.</p><p>“I will,” the Kitsune smirked mischievously as he stalked closer to your Nekomata.</p><p>You shook your head as you picked up the pan from your omelet this morning, cheese burned onto it, to begin scrubbing. Right as you were rinsing it, you heard a distinct <em>mrow!</em> of warning then a sharp bark in reply before the scrambling of paws across your hardwood floor. Peering into the living room, you were caught off-guard to see Taeyong in his cat form being chased by a sleek black fox. Right, Yuta could do that. You’d forgotten as you hadn’t seen him in his fox form since the last time he visited your parents shop some time ago. You were worried just for a second before Taeyong turned around to pounce on Yuta, swiping at his face. Judging by Yuta’s lack of vocalization of pain, the Nekomata had his claws in. They were just… play fighting? Either way, you had more important things to do than referee whatever was happening there.</p><p>Continuing with your washing of dishes, you finished soon and left them in the drainer to dry, not really feeling like hand-drying them at the moment. You returned to the living room to sit on the couch, watching the two animals in your home with amusement. You were pretty sure they were getting along. Yuta was at least having fun.</p><p>“Wonder what the neighbors think is happening over here,” you mused aloud, mostly to yourself.</p><p>Taeyong swatted Yuta’s bushy tail one more time before lithely bounding over to you and delicately leaping up onto the couch. He circled your lap once before curling up and laying down, staring right at Yuta, who was sitting on the floor, adorable fox head tilted in confusion.</p><p>“Sorry, Yuta,” you shrugged at Taeyong’s sudden mood change. Apparently it was just a momentary truce while you were out of the room.</p><p>Yuta turned back into a human to flop down into the other corner of the couch, stretching his back, arms, and legs then his neck with a groan. “Don’t you get cramped up from being in your animal form, Yonggie?”</p><p>“No,” Taeyong deadpanned, kneading his paws against your thigh.</p><p>“Ow!” You hissed when his claws came out and pricked at the tender flesh of your inner thigh. “Yong, your claws, we’ve talked about this.”</p><p>“Sorry,” he mumbled, settling for flopping onto his back instead.</p><p>You’d just started cooing over his cute toe beans when another knock came to your front door. Taeyong reluctantly rolled back over and off your lap, transforming into his human form. Once you had visual confirmation that both the Ayakashi with you looked like perfectly normal human beings, you only then opened your front door.</p><p>Jaehyun was in the hallway, and you eagerly greeted him with a peck on the cheek, “Hi Jae.”</p><p>“Hey,” he replied, squeezing your arm as he moved past you into your apartment. When he saw the two men on your couch he added, “Oh, hey, Yuta.”</p><p>“Hey, man,” Yuta saluted him with two fingers in greeting as he sat forward from his previous position reclined into the couch. He set a hand on Taeyong’s knee as he said, “This is my <em>best friend</em>, Taeyong. He’s visiting right now. Yonggie, this is Jaehyun.”</p><p>You could tell that it was taking all of Taeyong’s willpower not to scratch Yuta’s eyes out as he gritted his teeth into something that was almost a smile as he nodded, “Nice to meet you, Jaehyun.”</p><p>“You too, Taeyong,” Jaehyun nodded. “I’ve already heard a lot about you from Yuta and Jaemin and Y/N. Good things, don’t worry.”</p><p>“I’m glad.”</p><p>To distract from the cringe-worthy and uncomfortable spectacle before you, you suddenly spoke up, “Everyone’s a little early to go to Lenticular. Uh, anybody want something to drink?”</p><p>“Warm milk with honey,” Taeyong immediately answered, eyes closing in near bliss at the simple thought of his favorite drink.</p><p>Jaehyun tried to conceal his surprise at Taeyong’s hyper-specific and odd drink request. It was definitely not something that fit within the incorrect context you’d given to the TA, and Taeyong had just blurted it out without thinking.</p><p>“Just a water for me, Y/N, thanks,” Yuta said smoothly, slinging an arm over the Nekomata’s shoulder before leaning in to whisper something to him. Presumably reminding him to act like a normal human being who had only met you a couple times. Taeyong whined something back, and you latched onto Jaehyun’s forearm to bring him into the kitchen with you.</p><p>As you microwaved Taeyong’s milk and filled the other three glasses with ice, the human with you gestured for you to stop bustling around and come a little closer to him. You raised your eyebrows questioningly, bringing your ear closer when he motioned for you to do so.</p><p>“So are they… dating or something?” He asked, making you breathe out sharply in both relief and humor. Jaehyun misinterpreted your short release of air, “Don’t laugh! Did I miss something? Because I feel like Yuta would’ve told me, you know? Unless he thinks I wouldn’t accept him—”</p><p>“No, Jae, it’s not that, don’t worry.”</p><p>“Okay good. So they <em>are</em> dating, right?”</p><p>You bit your lip to keep yourself from breaking into roaring laughter, and Jaehyun once again misjudged the reasoning behind your actions.</p><p>“Oh, are they keeping it a secret, then? Or waiting until tonight to make an announcement with everyone there or something? Have you been sworn to secrecy?”</p><p>“There’s… some things that I can’t tell you about them, Jae,” you acquiesced, knowing that you could never admit to Taeyong nor Yuta your part in making Jaehyun believe that they were a couple.</p><p>The microwave beeped as Jaehyun let out a quiet ‘oh,’ and you left his side to get the cup of milk out. After stirring in Taeyong’s honey and dispensing the other drinks, you handed yours and Jaehyun’s to him, carrying the other two for your Ayakashi friends.</p><p>You may have heavily implied that Yuta and Taeyong were in a relationship, but the scene that you two walked in on did nothing to suggest otherwise. Yuta was scratching under Taeyong’s chin like one would to a pet while the latter simply glared at him, their faces mere inches apart. You reckoned that Taeyong’s expression could have been interpreted as one of reluctant adoration, which you were sure Jaehyun did.</p><p>Yuta flicked his eyes over at you as you approached them, holding their respective cups out to them. He pulled away from Taeyong as if nothing was out of the ordinary, accepting his glass of water. Taeyong took his glass of honey milk, the brief flash of his eyes meeting yours letting you know that he was now idolizing you as his savior.</p><p>With those two on the couch and Jaehyun taking the armchair, you opted to stand instead as you sipped your drink. Jaehyun set his glass of Fanta down on your coffee table before clearing his throat, “So, how long have you been in town, Taeyong?”</p><p>You snapped your eyes over to Jaehyun as a silent warning. Sure, this could have been an innocent conversation starter, but with his own assumptions about the nature of Yuta and Taeyong’s relationship, you knew he was trying to pry for information as inconspicuously as possible.</p><p>“Oh, uh, a while,” he stuttered out his response.</p><p>Jaehyun zeroed in his focus on the Kitsune, “Really… and when do you plan on leaving?”</p><p>Taeyong glanced between you and Yuta nervously, and you imagined that if his cat ears were out they’d be flicking in time with his anxious eyes.</p><p>You cleared your throat loudly, “You know what, we didn’t have as much time as I thought! We should get going to Lenticular! Jae, help me put the cups away while Taeyong and Yuta put their shoes on.”</p><p>He willingly did so, watching as you poured out the remaining liquids and rinsed the cups out.</p><p>“You’re ridiculous,” you scolded him under your breath.</p><p>“They were perfectly innocent questions,” he defended himself.</p><p>“How about you don’t talk to Taeyong for the rest of the night if you’re going to be like that to him. He was clearly uncomfortable.”</p><p>Jaehyun grabs your elbow, stopping your attempt to passive-aggressively storm out of the kitchen. His previously mischievous look turned into genuine concern, “Was I really being an asshole out there?”</p><p>“Yeah, a bit.”</p><p>“Okay. I’ll apologize to Taeyong. In private, so I don’t make him even more uncomfortable.”</p><p>“Good,” you nodded, lacing your fingers with his. “Come on, we’ve got a dinner to go to now.”</p>
<hr/><p>Arriving at Lenticular Café just a short walk later, you were surprised to find that it was entirely devoid of patrons. Did they lose <em>all</em> their business momentum in such a short time? Before you could comment on it, you saw a bunch of colorful streamers strung around haphazardly and a big array of foods already laid out at one of the central tables.</p><p>Jeno was sound asleep in one of the booths, and you had barely registered that before Johnny, Jaemin, and Renjun all came out of the back with more plates of food.</p><p>“Wow, a feast,” you breathed out in awe.</p><p>Jaemin piped up to explain as he set his bowl of dip down, “I called ahead to let them know that we were coming, because we were going to have a lot of people, and Johnny suggested closing the restaurant early and making it a little party with all of us.”</p><p>“Six isn’t that many, Jaemin,” you pointed out as he came to give you a hug in greeting.</p><p>He retorted simply, “Well, too late now.”</p><p>“Not only a feast but also,” Johnny announced, leading you all to watch as he moved towards an outlet, plugging something in. Suddenly, a half-globe of lights that you hadn’t noticed before lit up and began gently spinning, rainbow dots following its path all around the room. “A lightshow!”</p><p>There was a resounding chorus of wows and appreciation at the extra effort before the chef clapped his hands together to tell everyone to dig in.</p><p>You’d sent your blanket warning of your normal human date and normal human friend that would be coming to all the Ayakashi present, so you just hoped they all remembered for the whole night. But you pushed away your worries and let yourself get lost in the moment, talking and laughing and eating with all your friends, together in one wonderful place and time.</p><p>At one point, in a reverie where there were several different conversations happening, and Taeyong happened to be alone by the drinks table, Jaehyun dismissed himself from you and approached him. You watched out of the corner of your eye with bated breath. Hopefully he kept the apology short and sweet and didn’t mention or insinuate anything about Taeyong and Yuta being together. Taeyong nodded, seeming fine and relaxed, then the two of them burst out laughing and you fully relaxed. Jaemin dragged Renjun over to them by the shoulder of his thick hoodie, and you were surprised that the Satori didn’t do much more than roll his eyes. The hoodie probably shielded him from the discomfort of reading Jaemin’s thoughts. The four of them got to talking, Jaehyun soon taking Jaemin aside from them.</p><p>A hand on your head distracted you from that interaction as you looked up at the owner of it, Johnny, who was smiling down at you fondly.</p><p>“Having a good time tonight, little lady?”</p><p>“Yeah, this was really nice of you to do,” you looked over the scene once more: Jaemin and Jaehyun chatting in the corner, Jeno sleeping in a booth with his half-eaten food on a plate in front of him, Taeyong and Yuta in the seat across from him, their back and forth of bickering and teasing evident, and Renjun watching on with both disdain and interest. The messily hung streamers only added to the charm, especially with the rainbow lights dancing around the surfaces.</p><p>Renjun’s eyes briefly caught yours, and you watched with interest as he gingerly pulled on Jeno’s hood to expose the back of his neck to you. Your eyes widened when you saw the same black lotus blossom on his skin.</p><p>“Glad you’re having fun.”</p><p>“Jeno’s one of my True Ayakashi too?” You nodded towards the booth.</p><p>“Appears so,” Johnny confirmed as the Satori let go of Jeno’s hood.</p><p>“So who decorated? You or Renjun?”</p><p>“Renjun.”</p><p>“Figures.”</p><p>“He likes to pretend that he doesn’t care.”</p><p>You saw the mentioned boy snicker when Taeyong whined at something Yuta had said, clearly enjoying the Nekomata’s suffering.</p><p>“So was there any particular reason you decided to host a little party for us?”</p><p>“It’s Friday and we’re all friends, isn’t that good enough?”</p><p>“I suppose so.”</p><p>“People don’t have parties and celebrate enough anymore for my liking.”</p><p>“I’ll go to any party you invite me to, Johnny.”</p><p>“Thanks, little lady.”</p><p>You leaned towards him and lowered your voice, “Can I tell you something? And you won’t tell anyone else.”</p><p>“Of course, yeah,” Johnny’s brows knit in concern.</p><p>“I accidentally made Jaehyun think that Yuta and Taeyong are secretly dating.”</p><p>He let out a loud laugh that he covered with an even louder cough, making a few others give him strange looks before returning to their own conversations. Johnny silently wheezed for a moment, and you shushed him between giggles.</p><p>“Shh, Johnny, it’s not, shh—” giggle “—shh, it’s not that—” giggle “—not that funny.”</p><p>“Oh my god Y/N, how did you even do that?”</p><p>“Jaehyun was asking questions and I answered them vaguely and allowed him to draw his own conclusions.”</p><p>“I’m guessing they don’t know about this.”</p><p>“Considering that my eyes haven’t been scratched out? No, they don’t.”</p><p>“Thank you for telling me the funniest thing I’ve heard in decades, Y/N,” Johnny patted your shoulder as he caught his breath again. The two of you watched the aforementioned Ayakashi for a moment, Yuta with an arm around Taeyong’s shoulders making a kissy face at him while the Nekomata recoiled away, features twisted up in disgust, but he made no real effort to leave the booth, despite being at the open end.</p><p>“They do kind of look like a couple, don’t they?”</p><p>“Taeyong would scratch all 100 of your eyes out if he heard you say that,” you warned him, to which the Domeki snickered.</p><p>At the sight of Jaehyun walking over, you halted the conversation and greeted him with a bright smile, “Jae!”</p><p>“Hey, Y/N,” he rested an arm around your shoulders to peck your temple. “Thanks for hosting this by the way, Johnny.”</p><p>“Of course, I love being a host,” the owner replied sincerely.</p><p>“So what were you and Jaemin talking about over there?” You elbowed his side teasingly. “We all know that 2Jae only means trouble.”</p><p>“You.”</p><p>“All bad things, I assume.”</p><p>“From Jaemin, of course. I, on the other hand, would <em>never</em>.”</p><p>“Oh, sure,” you snorted back.</p>
<hr/><p>Saturday morning found you at the shrine, training with Mark and Jungwoo. This time, however, with the addition of Sicheng. Jungwoo wanted you to practice connecting your powers with your True Ayakashi, and more than one of your True Ayakashi at once. Keeping the trend of your immediate proclivity to fire manipulation, even just saying your Ayakashi’s names was enough to connect your powers instead of having to say an entire phrase like you were told was normal. Which, like your accidental fire manipulation, could easily happen when you didn’t want it to, so you had to train even more to properly control it.</p><p>After finally getting it under control, you elected to take a short break. As he usually did on your breaks, after being dismissed by Jungwoo, Mark went off to find Yukhei in the shrine while you stayed back with the other Tsukumo-gami, and now the Mizuchi dragon as well. Jungwoo busied himself with taking stock of his apothecary herbs, making a list of ones he’d have to restock soon. Sicheng fiddled with some water hovering above his hand, making it dance along his fingertips absentmindedly.</p><p>“Training is all well and good,” you spoke up to the two of them, wanting to vocalize something you’d been thinking for some time. “But uh… what’s the point if I never use it? Don’t get me wrong, I really appreciate you using your time and expertise to train me but—”</p><p>“You feel as though it may be a wasted pursuit.”</p><p>“Yeah.”</p><p>“I have an idea,” Sicheng spoke up, the thin strip of water now turning into one sphere, swirling in place.</p><p>You looked to him with intrigue, “Care to share with the class, Sicheng?”</p><p>“Me and some of my friends at my old village, we used to go on these patrols. We were just teenagers, but we wanted to make sure our village was safe. We could do something like that.”</p><p>“Patrol around the city and see if any Wraiths are up to no good?”</p><p>“Then you can put your training to good use. Fighting them off, banishing them.”</p><p>“We’d do the patrols at night? Once everyone’s off from work and school or whatever.”</p><p>“Yep. Maybe a couple times a week.”</p><p>“Hm. We should talk to the other guys about it, but I’m down,” you mused it over before turning to your other friend. “What do you think, Jungwoo?”</p><p>“I believe it may provide opportunities for you to use your training,” he agreed, but looked rather pensive.</p><p>You paused, waiting for him to say anything else, but he didn’t. So you prompted him, “But…?”</p><p>“You would want for me to come as well, correct?”</p><p>“Of course, Jungwoo!” You rushed to try to reassure him brightly. “You’re one of my True Ayakashi, and have been training me, I’d love to be able to show that all the time you’ve invested in me was worth it!”</p><p>Instead of seeming relieved as you’d hoped, a light grimace flashed across his face, “Ah, as I feared.”</p><p>“Feared?”</p><p>“It has been many years since I last left the shrine and surrounding wood…”</p><p>Then you realized what his hesitation had been about, “And you don’t want to leave yet.”</p><p>He turned to look out one of the windows, a long sigh escaping his lips before he continued speaking, “The world has surely changed so much, and I cannot even imagine what it could possibly be like now, even when my brother describes it to me. It is only natural to be wary of the unknown.”</p><p>“And it’s easier to stay here, where you’re comfortable, rather than try to subject yourself to something new.”</p><p>You moved to stand beside Jungwoo, looping your arm through his. He glanced over at you, and you caught his gaze, offering a simple smile.</p><p>“I won’t force you to come, Jungwoo, but I also won’t deny how much it would mean for me for you to be there. As my friend and my teacher.”</p><p>“I see…” he nodded. “Will you give me some time to think this over?”</p><p>“Of course,” you patted his upper arm reassuringly. “We still have to see if the others are up for it too.”</p><p>“Thank you, Lady Onmyoji,” Jungwoo stepped back from the window to return to counting his herbs.</p>
<hr/><p>Bounding down the mountain with Sicheng and Mark, you filled Mark in on your plans to talk with all of your Ayakashi friends about the patrols, offering for the other Onmyoji and his own True Ayakashi to join you.</p><p>“Oh, uhm, maybe—I don’t know,” Mark stammered. “Ten is usually pretty busy in the evenings with his thesis, and I’m taking eighteen credits this semester as well as working.”</p><p>“Alright, well, just let me know if anything changes!” You replied brightly. “I’m heading to Lenticular Café to talk to Johnny and Renjun about it right now, if either of you want to come.”</p><p>“I’m working your parents’ store,” Sicheng declined.</p><p>Your other friend cleared his throat, “I’ve got a Physics lab report to write up for Monday.”</p><p>“It’s <em>Saturday</em>. Can’t you do it tomorrow?” You whined.</p><p>“Plans tomorrow.”</p><p>“Wow, Mark Lee being a responsible student? That’s a first,” you snorted, only making him let out an awkward and high-pitched giggle.</p><p>“Ha, yeah…”</p><p>Tilting your head, you raised an eyebrow as you addressed him with concern, “Are you okay, Mark?”</p><p>“I think I did a little too divining much today, feeling just a little drained,” he admitted as the three of you reached the base of the mountain.</p><p>“Oh, okay, maybe you should take a nap or something before doing your lab report then.”</p><p>“I will, thanks, Y/N,” Mark took his penny board from his backpack.</p><p>“Of course, see you Monday.”</p><p>“See you, Y/N. Bye, Sicheng.”</p><p>“Goodbye, Mark,” the Mizuchi dragon nodded to him before he took off skating through the sidewalks.</p>
<hr/><p>Outside of Bibliophile Books, you gave Sicheng your goodbye, waving at your parents through the windows before taking off down the street for Lenticular Café. If everything went well and you could get the other guys on board for these patrols, you could finally actually use your Onmyoji skills for something kind of maybe productive. It was exciting.</p><p>Throwing open the front door, you were happy to see that it was empty. It had been an early morning of training today, meaning that you were here before opening. Johnny was wiping down tables as Renjun opened the register, both of their heads whipping up to look at you, probably from the rather loud ringing of the bell and slamming of the door from your enthusiastic entrance.</p><p>“Woah, hey there, Onmyoji,” Johnny greeted you teasingly, jokingly stumbling back a step as if he had been knocked into by something.</p><p>You suddenly slowed yourself down to ask, “What?”</p><p>“Your powers have gotten a hell of a lot stronger since the last time I saw you. Nearly knocked me off my feet.”</p><p>“You’re being dramatic, Johnny.”</p><p>He tucked his rag into his apron as he walked over to you, “Hey, I’m just thinking that Oni might have been onto something when he said you’re the most powerful Onmyoji in a millennia.”</p><p>“Anyway, I was talking to Sicheng, and I have an idea,” you brushed it off, brain too focused on one thing at the moment.</p><p>The Satori rolled his eyes, “Why do I feel like I’m going to hate your idea?”</p><p>“Stop being a pissbaby, Renjun,” you snapped back at him with a roll of your eyes.</p><p>Johnny’s jaw dropped in delight, “Holy <em>shit</em>, I am loving this new Y/N.”</p><p>“New?”</p><p>“You’ve changed in the last couple weeks or so, Y/N. And I’m liking it.”</p><p>“I’m still the same me!” You tried to insist. “I would have called Renjun a pissbaby a month ago.”</p><p>“No, you wouldn’t have. Or at least not with so little antagonizing,” the Domeki shook his head with a chuckle. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining, I seriously like it. You’re… <em>glowing</em>, and not putting up with Renjun’s shit. It’s fantastic.”</p><p>“Well, I guess it might be my training. I’ve been doing a lot more Onmyoji stuff with Jungwoo.”</p><p>“You’re becoming a more powerful Onmyoji, yes. But it can’t just be that.”</p><p>With a voice that wavered with both bashfulness and pride, you suggested, “Uh, I mean, Jaehyun and I are going to get more serious I think…”</p><p>“That’s what I like to hear! Congrats, Y/N!”</p><p>“Thanks, Johnny…”</p><p>Renjun sharply cut in, “What was your idea, dude?”</p><p>“Oh, right, sorry. Sicheng and I were talking about how I could actually use my Onmyoji training and he suggested patrols like twice a week or so. See what the Wraiths are doing, whatever, you know. What do you guys think?”</p><p>The Satori seemed thoroughly unimpressed, returning to counting the cash.</p><p>Johnny didn’t let you feel disheartened, however, brightly responding, “It’s at least worth discussing with everybody. We can all talk here sometime if you can organize it, little lady.”</p><p>“Absolutely!”</p><p>“We’re opening in two minutes,” Renjun stated, snapping you and Johnny from your happy exchange.</p><p>“Are we feeding you breakfast, Y/N?” Johnny asked.</p><p>“Nah, I have a Nekomata to feed back home,” you declined. “I’ll let you guys know about the meeting!”</p><p>“Bye, little lady!” The Domeki sent you off with a wave as Renjun grumbled something close to a goodbye under his breath as you left.</p>
<hr/><p>After feeding Taeyong and getting some schoolwork done, you got a text from Jaehyun letting you know that he was on his way to come get you. He had informed you that he had something planned for you, but that it was a surprise and just to dress comfortably for the weather. You were a little nervous, but you trusted him.</p><p>As you heard knocks at the front, you gave Taeyong’s cat head a couple pats before dashing over, hastily opening the door. Jaehyun greeted you with a soft smile and warm hug, which you easily snuggled into, your chest feeling funny as he pecked your forehead.</p><p>“Hi,” he said quietly, rubbing your back. It was then that you noticed he was only hugging you with one arm, and you pulled back to look curiously at why his other hand wasn’t free.</p><p>“What’s in the bag?” You questioned, nodding towards the large tote that was in his hand.</p><p>“You have an A in World Literature, but you don’t know what ‘surprise’ means?”</p><p>“Oh, piss off,” you scoffed, turning to lock your door behind you.</p><p>His arm snaked around your waist to hold you close to him as he peppered kisses on your neck, and suddenly your fingers didn’t work as they fiddled and fumbled with locking the door. The task took about ten seconds longer than it normally did as your brain momentarily short-circuited. Once the door was locked, Jaehyun let go of you as if nothing had happened and took your hand in his free one to start leading you down the hallway.</p><p>As the two of you walked through the city, you tried to guess what was in the bag, where you were going, and what you were going to be doing. He shot down all of your suggestions with amused shakes of his head and adoring glimmers of smiles, fingers laced with yours. You swung your linked hands, humming to yourself between guesses as you tried to come up with progressively more ridiculous scenarios.</p><p>The office buildings soon gave way to lines of tiny shops, and you perked up as you recognized one.</p><p>“Can we go get something from Marvelous Macarons?” You asked, at full attention now as your mouth watered just thinking of their delicate and delectable pastries.</p><p>“Maybe later,” Jaehyun shrugged off your question, not even looking as you passed it by. You, however, longingly gazed at the display through the window, the colorful rounds calling your name.</p><p>Feeing just a touch melancholy now, you walked just a little closer to Jaehyun, arm pressed against his side. He snickered and pecked the crown of your head quickly, “I’m sorry to deprive you of your overpriced desserts, Y/N.”</p><p>“You say that as if you think I’ll be offended by it. I’m aware of how expensive they are. That’s why I get them as a treat for special occasions.”</p><p>“Today’s a special occasion?”</p><p>“We’re going on a date, isn’t that special enough?”</p><p>“Smooth, Y/N.”</p><p>“Thanks.”</p><p>“We’re not doubling back to get macarons right now.”</p><p>“Damn.”</p>
<hr/><p>Finally, Jaehyun slowed your pace and took a sharp turn off of the sidewalk. You were on the edges of a local park, a clear grassy area where most days kids would be kicking a ball around, or flying kites on windy days. There were a few other patrons there, an elderly couple taking a walk together, and a mother and son on the playground a ways away.</p><p>Jaehyun stopped underneath a large oak tree, setting the bag down and letting go of your hand to reach into it. He pulled out a large blanket, peach in color, with yellow flowers on it. You watched as he laid it on a flat area, then promptly sat cross-legged on it and started retrieving even more things from the bag. You followed his lead, sitting by him as he pulled out sandwiches wrapped in yellow patterned parchment paper, a platter of fruit slices, another platter of various cheeses and crackers, two wine glasses, and a bottle of sparkling grape juice dyed a light pink to mimic rosé.</p><p>A grin had grown wider and wider across your features with every new thing that he pulled out, and as he set the bag aside, you took in the spread in front of you. A picnic. Jaehyun was taking you on a romantic picnic.</p><p>He handed you one of the glasses before picking up the bottle of sparkling grape juice and cautiously went to open it. It popped and fizzed loudly, but the drink stayed inside the bottle, behaving as he fully unscrewed it. Continuing your tradition of drinking nonalcoholic, carbonated beverages in wine glasses on dates. You liked it.</p><p>With your glasses filled to about how much one would fill a wine glass with actual wine, you two toasted and each took a sip before digging into the preparations of food.</p><p>A mild breeze occasionally would dance around you, caressing your warm skin and kicking up some of your hair. Jaehyun—automatically, completely unprompted and without fanfare or interrupting his sentence—would fix it, and you’d do the same for him. Kisses were shared here and there, especially once you’d eaten all you’d wanted to and had shuffled beside him, leaning your head on his shoulder and listened to him read. Your fake rosé was slightly flat, but you took sips anyway, hoping the still cool drink would aid in keeping the fire down from your cheeks. You were getting used to this, being with Jaehyun, romantically, but still found yourself flustered if you thought about it too much. Which happened somewhat frequently.</p><p>He was reading from the Iliad again, and you weren’t so much listening to the words as you were just listening to his voice, clear, steady, and soothing to you.</p><p>“Oh,” Jaehyun announced, as if he’d suddenly remembered something important. You sat up to look at him curiously as he set the book down and grabbed the bag once more.</p><p>“Forget something, Jae?” You questioned as he fetched a box from within. A rather familiar pink box, actually.</p><p>Macarons from Marvelous Macarons.</p><p>You nearly guffawed at the sight of the dessert, “I thought they were <em>overpriced?”</em></p><p>“They are,” he defended his earlier statement as he opened the lid for you grab one. “But you were right: they’re a nice treat for a special occasion.”</p><p>“And what’s the occasion?” You quipped back, fully expecting him to paraphrase your cheesy reasoning from earlier.</p><p>Instead, as you took a bite from your strawberries and cream flavored macaron, he retrieved something from his jacket pocket. A small, red velvet box. A ring box. Your eyes widened and you brain jumped to maybe the worst conclusion, but when he popped it open, your worries were somewhat placated. The ring inside looked nothing like an engagement ring. In fact, it was actually rather familiar to you. A warm golden band with two red gems in the shape of cherries with green gems for stems and a little leaf. It was the ring you had been eyeing while window shopping with Jaemin forever ago but didn’t end up buying for yourself.</p><p>“Y/N, will you be my girlfriend?” Jaehyun enunciated his words clearly, up until the slight crack over the word ‘girlfriend.’ Good, he was a little nervous too.</p><p>You desperately went to finish chewing the food in your mouth and swallowing it with great haste to answer with fervent nodding, “Yes!”</p><p>A blinding smile overtook Jaehyun’s features as dimples indented his cheeks and his eyes arched in joyful crescents. He wrapped his arms around you tightly, and you eagerly hugged him back, burying your face in his neck. Happiness bubbled in your chest and spread throughout your body as you seemed to fit into his arms perfectly, nuzzling your nose against the soft and warm skin above his collar.</p><p>He pulled back just enough to grab your right hand, taking the ring out of the box and slipping it onto your finger for you. You took just a moment to look at the cute little ring before hastily turning your head again to kiss him. Your nose accidentally bumped his in your elated rush, teeth hitting teeth for just a second, but he didn’t complain as he turned his head to actually kiss you back properly.</p><p>You couldn’t be happier.</p>
<hr/><p>You couldn’t be more nervous.</p><p>Today you were getting breakfast with your dad. And Jaehyun’s dad. You two were joining their usual bi-weekly Y/L/N-Jung Dad Breakfast, which was typically forbidden to outsiders— including their wives and children. But they had made an exception, since you were supposed to be formally telling them about you and Jaehyun dating.</p><p>You twisted the cherry ring around your finger anxiously as you stood at a crosswalk, waiting for the signal to change. Just across this street and you’d be at the restaurant that you were meeting them at. The sign changed, granting you permission to cross. Jaehyun squeezed your shoulder before moving his hand down to hold yours and start crossing.</p><p>It was at a little diner that you recognized from the double family outings you’d occasionally gone on in the past, usually for lunch or dinner— never breakfast.</p><p>Your boyfriend spoke up, maybe sensing your nerves, “Hey, remember when we came here that one time when you were still young enough to get a kids menu, but I wasn’t, and you let me color on yours with you?”</p><p>“And you colored the sun in with the green crayon,” you rolled your eyes.</p><p>“You were so pissed at me and threw the yellow crayon at me.”</p><p>“I was about to get the grounding of a lifetime but you, still holding your wounded eye, lied and said you’d flipped it up into your own face.”</p><p>“Nobody else had seen, and if my memory serves correct, you still owe me one.”</p><p>“And how do you propose I repay you?”</p><p>“Hmm,” Jaehyun pretended to think as the two of you stopped in front of the café.</p><p>He turned to you, a cheeky grin already tugging at the corner of his mouth before he leaned down to press his lips to yours. You were already quite used to his surprise kisses at this point, and your hand came up to grip at his collar, eagerly reciprocating. The kiss only lasted a moment, neither of you being overly fond of prolonged nor exceptionally gross public displays of affection, but you still pulled away with newly vanilla-flavored lips, courtesy of his lip balm.</p><p>“Hello, Y/N,” a startlingly familiar voice came from behind Jaehyun, and you were afraid to peer around him, already knowing who was there.</p><p>With burning ears and cheeks, you did so anyway, your father standing there, Mr. Jung beside him.</p><p>“Hi, Dad,” you bounded up to him nevertheless, hugging him before nodding to the man with him. “Hello, Mr. Jung, it’s nice to see you again.”</p><p>“Y/N, it’s been some time,” Mr. Jung acknowledged you with a mischievous grin that you’d seen before on his son. Speaking of, he went up to hug Jaehyun as well, “Hey, Jaehyun.”</p><p>“Hey, Dad,” your boyfriend let go of his father to take your hand back in his and hold his other out to shake your dad’s. “Mr. Y/L/N, how are you doing?”</p><p>“Would be better if I wasn’t greeted with the visage of you trying to eat my daughter.”</p><p>“Oh, come on,” Mr. Jung clapped your father’s back. “It’s young love, doesn’t the sight just warm your heart?”</p><p>“More like churns my stomach, but sure, Gahyun.”</p><p>“<em>Dad</em>,” you groaned, extending the vowel to display your annoyance and embarrassment.</p><p>“You know I like to tease, Y/N,” your dad pecked your cheek before the two dads lead the way into the café.</p>
<hr/><p>Settled on a sitting pillow at the shrine, you picked at your fingernails. Jungwoo had invited you over early to review some Onmyoji things before your first patrol with your crew. You had most of the Ayakashi that you knew attending, however the only other Onmyoji you knew, wouldn’t be. Mark ended up with the night shift at his work for the whole month. Apparently he had <em>really</em> pissed off his manager.</p><p>Jungwoo emerged from the kitchen with a matchbox, bringing one out as he sat down near you. There was a candle on the coffee table beside the two of you, cerulean blue in color. The Tsukumo-gami struck the match, and the flame sparked and came to life in an instant. He touched it to the wick, lighting the “ocean breeze” scented candle. Elemental manipulation. Banishing Wraiths was way below your training at this point, instinctual, just as easy as moving a limb to you.</p><p>This, however, was simultaneously both more and less difficult to learn than banishing. You were able to connect your energy to the energy of the fire, but it was just a matter of having exact <em>control</em> over it once the connection was there. It was like plugging a USB drive into a computer then not being able to choose what files it opened up and corrupted. Some divisions of Divining had steadfast rules while others didn’t. Elemental manipulation was the former. One of which was that it was easier to manipulate existing sources rather than creating anything out of thin air. For example, the fire of a candle. You could multiply or reduce elements from existing sources, make a fire bigger or smaller, but creating a flame from nothing was nearly impossible.</p><p>Connecting with the flame was easy enough, the energy bubbling within it simple to understand. Just not as simple to <em>control</em>. So you merely tried to change the shape. Not the size yet, you didn’t want to try to make it a millimeter bigger and accidentally blow the roof off. So for now, you just focused on changing the shape. Elements tended to resist doing things outside their natural physics. The natural physics of fire was to taper off as it went up and have a tip. Like a triangle. You did that one first. A circle wasn’t too hard either, keeping the rounded bottom of a typical single flame. It was when you began trying to manipulate it into a heart, rounded at the top and tapered at the bottom, that it started putting up a fight. But you kept your cool. Getting hotheaded would be the perfect conduit for the fire to misbehave. And it did listen, you made a little fire heart. But you couldn’t hold it long, quickly allowing the fire to return to its natural shape.</p><p>“Good, Lady Onmyoji,” Jungwoo complimented you, leaning forward to blow the candle out. “Let us leave it at that for now. I do not wish to deplete your abilities for tonight.”</p><p>“Sicheng would kill you I think,” you chuckled, referencing your friend who had seemed the most enthusiastic about the ‘getting rid of Wraiths’ part of your plans for tonight.</p><p>“I do not think he would risk killing your teacher,” your friend quipped back.</p><p>“Good point.”</p><p>“Oh, and there is one more thing I wish to tell you in preparation for tonight.”</p><p>“Go ahead.”</p><p>“What do you know of battle forms?”</p><p>“Johnny told me about them a little. Your outfits will change, different Ayakashi attributes will come out, stuff like that.”</p><p>“Correct. Ayakashi have states called battle forms. It is a certain appearance we take on when in times of battle. Akin to how a cat raises its hackles when threatened, to appear more frightening.”</p><p>“Can you show me now or is it only—”</p><p>“I have control over my forms,” Jungwoo confirmed, taking just a moment to breathe in before his casual modern clothes were replaced by a yukata of a light green color. Condensed along the hems and spreading out towards his shoulders were delicate sakura blossoms, the artistry so realistic that it felt as thought they could drift off the fabric and tickle your nose with their petals at the slightest instigation of wind.</p><p>You breathed out, “Cool.”</p><p>How eloquent of a statement, but it was all you could form in the moment.</p><p>There was a beat of peaceful silence between the two of you, which frequently happened, and it had never quite bothered you. But this time it did, an itch underneath your skin. An itch for answers.</p><p>“Are you coming tonight, Jungwoo?”</p><p>The Tsukumo-gami remained in his yukata—you wondered for just a split second if he preferred that to his modern clothes—then reached into his large sleeve and procured a thin, wooden flute and you were much more focused on that. He didn’t move to play it, simply running a finger along the grain of the wood. After just a moment he quickly shoved it back in, out of sight, as if the mere remembrance of its existence was a burden.</p><p>“I am afraid that I cannot accompany you tonight, Lady Onmyoji,” he grimaced, clearly not happy with his answer himself. The yukata was gone in the blink of an eye, Jungwoo’s dark blue jeans and simple white button up now returned. His words picked up speed as he continued, “As your Ayakashi, I am aware of the great disgrace I am doing to you by refusing to directly support you in your Divining mission, but—”</p><p>“It’s fine, Jungwoo,” you were quick to reassure him, placing a comforting hand over his. “Like you said, you haven’t left this place in a while. It’s something you need to do on your own terms, when you’re ready. You’re not failing me or disappointing me, okay? I’m not your big bad scary Onmyoji master who requires you follow my every order. I’m just your friend.”</p><p>“Thank you, Lady Onmyoji.”</p><p>Checking the time on your phone, you realized that you’d have to get going to Lenticular—where everybody was supposed to meet up for the patrol.</p><p>You stood up from the pillow, “I’ve got to get going, Jungwoo.”</p><p>“Oh, of course,” he stood with you to show you out, his brother—who had been sitting in the corner working on a watch—standing as well.</p><p>To your surprise, Yukhei followed to the two of you to the front of the shrine, and when you looked at him with a raised eyebrow, your mentor spoke up.</p><p>“Though I may not be comfortable with leaving the shrine yet, my brother does it on a nearly daily basis. He will be accompanying you on the patrol tonight. If that is alright with you, Lady Onmyoji.”</p><p>“Yeah, that’s fine,” you nodded, speaking to the teal-haired man next. “Hope you don’t mind that your buddy won’t be there. Mark’s working tonight. No magic patrol for him.”</p><p>“Sad,” Yukhei deadpanned the word, <em>almost</em> leading you to believe that he <em>might</em> have a sense of humor. You’d yet to see any concrete evidence for that, however. Maybe you could gather some more data for your hypothesis tonight.</p><p>With an appraising squint of your eyes, you gave Jungwoo a wave and began your descent down the mountain all without taking your eyes off the taller Tsukumo-gami.</p><p>“We’ve got to stop by my apartment first to pick up Taeyong,” you informed him, to which he simply nodded. After an awkward amount of silence, you spoke up again, “So, you like living at the shrine?”</p><p>He nodded.</p><p>“I know you can talk, titan.”</p><p>He looked over at you with an eyebrow raised, “I know. But what’s the point in speaking if one can convey their intentions with a simple gesture?”</p><p>“So talking is too… <em>tiring</em> for you?”</p><p>He nodded.</p>
<hr/><p>“Good to see the Ayakashi Avengers all back together!” Yuta called out cheerfully upon his entrance to Lenticular Café. He was the last one to arrive, not surprising you whatsoever.</p><p>You looked up at him, making your lack of amusement clear on your features. Taeyong was laying in the booth with you, head in your lap as you absentmindedly ran your fingers through the hair between his two cat ears. He sat up just a little to glare at the Kitsune before laying back down, burying himself further in your lap, staking his claim still. One of these days you might have to talk to him about that, especially with you and Jaehyun approaching your two month anniversary now. If you do get more committed with him—and you had no plans <em>not</em> to—would you tell him about Onmyoji and Ayakashi and Wraiths? What would you say? How the hell could you explain all of this without seeming crazy? What if you broke up after telling him about all of this, would you be putting all your friends in danger by doing that?</p><p>Yuta took you out of your thoughts as his eyes focused on Yukhei across the booth from you, the Kitsune’s eyes lighting up, devilishness pulling at the corner of his mouth, “<em>And</em> we have a new member!”</p><p>“We’re <em>not</em> calling ourselves that, Yuta,” Renjun spat at him, sitting alone on a tabletop across the empty café.</p><p>“What are you going to do to stop me?”</p><p>In an instant, Renjun’s waiter uniform was overtaken by a magenta longsleeve and indigo cloak, the black pants seemingly the same, but now with an empty gun holster at his hip. The gun was being spun around his finger before he stopped it, pointing it right at the Kitsune.</p><p>“Shoot you,” he retorted with wide, pointed, and mismatched eyes. You were pretty sure he was kidding. Hopefully.</p><p>“I don’t want bullet holes in my walls again, Renjun,” Johnny stepped between the two of them, defusing the situation almost immediately with the platter of snickerdoodle cookies he set down on the central table that most of you were seated at.</p><p>Gun now holstered, Renjun stayed in those clothes—his battle form, you presumed—as he reached to grab a cookie. The Satori took two cookies before retreating further away from the group to maintain his own personal space. Johnny handed you and Taeyong each a cookie as well, and you thanked him quietly.</p><p>As Yuta leaned forward to get his own cookie, you noticed two pointed black ears poking up from his mop of hair, and as he bit into them, his teeth were noticeably sharper. It looked as though they were all canines now.</p><p>You quietly munched on your cookie as Sicheng stood at the head of the table and cleared his throat to address everyone, “Thank you for coming, everyone. I’ve laid out routes and groups for tonight. We’ll be splitting into two groups to cover more ground and appear more inconspicuous. Please follow the ground rules laid out in our previous meeting, <em>especially</em> the one about not harming or alerting humans as to what we are and what we’re doing.”</p><p>He paused to look around at everyone who was giving him their full attention—even Jeno, who seemed much more alert than he normally was. He actually seemed almost… excited.</p><p>“Before I announce the groups and send out the routes, does anybody have any questions or want to say something else?”</p><p>Johnny eagerly spoke up, “Big thanks to Y/N for restoring and strengthening the protective charm around the café earlier, it can now operate as our Wraith-free headquarters for this sort of thing.”</p><p>You bashfully gave him a thumbs-up.</p><p>There was another pause, and when nobody added anything, Sicheng went back to the patrols.</p><p>“The first group is going to be Jeno, Johnny, Y/N, and Yukhei. Myself, Taeyong, Yuta, and Renjun will comprise the second group. The group without Y/N in it will not be able to banish Wraiths so we’ll be more information-focused, taking note of their movements and anything strange that the Wraiths may be doing.”</p><p>When you all nodded, Sicheng brought his phone out, “I’m sending the proposed route to Y/N’s group, I’ll navigate my own. Any questions before we head out?”</p><p>“Why didn’t you just give Y/N all her True Ayakashi that are here?” Renjun called out.</p><p>“The groups were randomly assigned.”</p><p>“Why wouldn’t you do a strategic placement instead?”</p><p>“Because we have plans to do lots of these and having the same groups every time will be less beneficial to unity as a whole.”</p><p>The Satori rolled his eyes, “Fine dude, you didn’t have to go all workplace seminar on me, jeez.”</p><p>Sicheng’s eyes seemed as though they were about to pop out of his skull as he replied back with righteous indignation, “You asked for my reasoning, I gave you it, and now you’re <em>complaining</em>?”</p><p>As they continued squabbling, you caught Johnny’s eye from across the room and you both knew exactly what the other was thinking: that you were <em>so</em> glad you weren’t in their group for tonight.</p>
<hr/><p>The eight of you stepped through the door to leave Lenticular Café, all of your friends’ supernatural attributes disappearing as they did so. You gave Taeyong a final pat on the head of good luck as your groups prepared to separate and depart, and he rubbed his head against your shoulder for just a moment in return.</p><p>“All of our routes are between forty-five minutes to an hour round-trip, we’ll meet back here afterwards to discuss,” Sicheng reminded everyone, and you reviewed the map of your own route on your phone. You’d be passing through Pleasant Peach Drive, and Jisung briefly came to your thoughts. You’d still yet to visit him since your conversation with Mark, and felt a slight twinge of guilt.</p><p>With the other four seeing you off, your group took off on your own route.</p><p>“That’s got to be a headache of a group,” Johnny shook his head. “Taeyong and Yuta, <em>and</em> Sicheng and Renjun.”</p><p>“Taeyong and Yuta might be okay,” you replied hopefully, toying with a talisman between your fingers.</p><p>“I just hope Sicheng doesn’t end up shot and/or Renjun doesn’t end up drowned.”</p><p>“Give Sicheng some credit, he would probably just drown him a <em>little</em> bit. Give him a swirly or something.”</p><p>Jeno snorted at this from Johnny’s other side, and you darted your eyes over to Yukhei to see if he had found it amusing as well. His eyes were set dead ahead, brow slightly furrowed with focus.</p><p>You narrowed your eyes up at him, “I’m going to make you laugh one of these days.”</p><p>“Was that supposed to be funny?”</p><p>Johnny snickered while Jeno full on howled at Yukhei’s deadpan insult, and you were just left with your mouth gaping like a fish as you weren’t sure whether to be offended or vindicated that he had actually said something to you.</p><p>“You laughed at it too, Lee Jeno!” You instead decided to snap at the Tengu.</p><p>“I exhaled loudly through my nose,” he corrected you, still chuckling. “Not a laugh.”</p><p>You’d just started sticking your tongue out at him when you suddenly retracted it, gasping instead. There were Wraiths nearby. A lot of them. And they were powerful. The three Ayakashi with you had noticed it as well, and before you could say anything, Jeno was suddenly pitched through the window of the empty building you were next to. There was a sharp, clear cascading sound of the window shattering around him.</p><p>“Fuck!” Johnny shouted out, reeling back from where Jeno had previously been right next to him.</p><p>“What the hell?” Jeno grumbled as he found his footing, pulling out a couple large pieces of glass that were in his arm.</p><p>You threw a talisman at the door to unlock it, and rushed into the building with him, “Are you okay?”</p><p>“Yeah, I’m—”</p><p>He was cut off by a scream from outside, and your attention was yanked to Johnny, who was on his knees with a hand over his forehead, eyes screwed shut in pain as he yelled out in anguish. You ran back out to his side, eyes widening in horror when you saw blood dripping through his fingertips.</p><p>“Johnny, what happened?”</p><p>“His third eye was wounded,” Yukhei announced, stance cautious but strong as he surveyed the scene around you. He was in his battle form now, donning a teal yukata and wielding two dual broadswords.</p><p>With a flap of wings, Jeno had joined you three back on the sidewalk as you tried to comfort Johnny, “Are they fucking invisible or something?”</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>“I’ve never heard of Wraiths being able to—” the Tengu narrowly dodged a sudden slice from Yukhei, cursing. “Dude what the hell?”</p><p>It was then that you heard Johnny muttering something, “Right.”</p><p>And Yukhei swung his right sword, the blade throwing up blue sparks as it had apparently impacted with something. But the air next to him was empty.</p><p>“Front,” the Domeki grunted, and Yukhei responded immediately. “Jeno, behind.”</p><p>And Jeno spun around, wings creating a powerful rush of air that seemed the push back the evil feeling that had been wrapping itself around you. You shook your head at yourself, you had to focus, help your friends.</p><p>Unfortunately, you’d never tried to banish Wraiths that you couldn’t see. You’d have to revert to speaking the incantation. Only the first word was out of your mouth when Johnny yelled out, “Y/N!”</p><p>But neither Jeno nor Yukhei could react in time before you were struck across the head and knocked to the ground.</p><p><em>Ow</em>.</p><p>You let out something between a hiss and a sob as the pain registered past your shock. Opening and closing your jaw, you tried to stop the ringing in your ears as you dragged yourself up onto your elbows. Squinting your eyes, your vision spun and swam as you tried to take in the scene around you. Dark spots blacked out patches of it, and your arms suddenly gave out underneath you, your face impacting with the hard ground again.</p><p>Someone was grabbing you, pulling you to your feet. They were saying something to you, and even though you couldn’t make out their words, the voice was familiar to you.</p><p>“Tae… yong?” You slurred through the metallic spit in your mouth.</p><p>“Yuta!” He cried out, making you wince at the loud noise.</p><p>Then another person was on your other side, Yuta, presumably. He graced a hand over your head, and you felt as though the pain was being pulled from your body. Your ears stopped ringing, your head stopped throbbing, and your vision cleared. Only to reveal a horrific scene ahead of you. All of your friends were there now, being attacked by completely invisible enemies. Johnny was in the middle of them, Yukhei standing guard over him as he was still barking out directions. But there were too many to keep track of now, too many people for Johnny to try to protect, too many Wraiths in too many places. He’d yell out a warning to Renjun then Jeno would get hit.</p><p>As you felt stronger, Yuta’s hand slipped from your head as he took a few steps back, doubling over to groan out as his hand now clutched at his own head.</p><p>“Yuta!”</p><p>Taeyong was at his side, “I’ve got him, Y/N, go help the others.”</p><p>Worried, but knowing that the Nekomata was right, you focused back on the fight in front of you. If you tried your incantation again, you were afraid of being a target. And your friends needed you as conscious as possible. You wracked through every lesson that Jungwoo had ever taught you, filtering out anything that wouldn’t be useful in battle. Then you remembered one day when you had asked if there was any other way to deal with Wraiths aside from banishing them. You’d only asked because you were so bored after mastering banishing Wraiths so easily, and you were curious.</p><p>
  <em>“Wraiths do not like fire,” he’d told you plainly.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“So what, I should keep a matchbook on me?”</em>
</p><p>It had been a joke at the time, but now you took your bag off your shoulder and rooted through its contents. It just had a bottle of water, granola bar, and extra talismans if you ran out of the ones in your pocket. And a lighter.</p><p>You secured it in your hand, striking it to make sure it still worked. A flame appeared, and you immediately put it out to gather yourself. Your training hadn’t yet included changing the size of flames, much less <em>fighting Wraiths with them</em>, but you’d have to if you wanted to do anything to help your friends. So you struck the lighter once more, and just focused on the energy of it. Connecting to the flame was as easy as ever, but now was the hard part: controlling it.</p><p>“Okay, little guy, I’m just going to move you over to my hand, okay?” You murmured to it, focusing on doing that. Once you did, you carefully tucked the lighter away.</p><p>“Now I’m going to make you a little bigger,” you muttered, talking through your actions helping to keep you grounded and focused.</p><p>The flame responded, steadily growing in size to fill your entire palm.</p><p>“Good,” you kept talking yourself through it. “Now let’s double you so there’s some for my other hand.”</p><p>You brought your hands together then separated them, two equal palm-sized fireballs in each now.</p><p>“Okay,” you breathed in, then out. “Let’s do it.”</p><p>Brandishing the flames in front of you, you began making your way towards your friends.</p><p>“Get behind me!” You called out to them, the flames jumping in size along with your voice. You fought to keep your voice level as you ordered again, “Behind me!”</p><p>The ones nearest to you, Jeno and Renjun, obliged. Taeyong and a better looking Yuta joined you, too.</p><p>“Holy shit dude,” Renjun breathed out as you continued moving forward. Your destination was Johnny, who was both incapacitated <em>and</em> in the middle of the fight. Sicheng looked over for a moment, falling in behind you as well.</p><p>Finally, you were at Johnny, and you struggled to keep your breathing and heartrate down when you saw the state that he was in. Blood coated his face and hand as he held his third eye. Even if his two human ones were open, they’d surely get the gory amount of blood in them in an instant.</p><p>All of your friends were pretty badly wounded, and that made you angry. The flames shot up in response, and you took a deep breath, quietly chastising both them and you, “No, calm.”</p><p>They dulled back down to a size just a tad bigger than before.</p><p>“And what do you think you’re going to do with those?” Sicheng asked incredulously, having been the one most up to date with your trainings. “Jungwoo teach you that?”</p><p>You shook your head slowly. Any sudden move or jump in emotion could break your control over the fire.</p><p>“I can’t banish them,” you enunciated clearly. “And Wraiths don’t like fire.”</p><p>“I’m down for some arson,” Renjun shrugged, shooting off to his left when Johnny said to.</p><p>“Y/N, you don’t even know how to do this,” the Mizuchi dragon warned you lowly.</p><p>“I know that I have to get rid of them,” you insisted. “I’m your Onmyoji. You’re supposed to help me, and I’m supposed to help you.”</p><p>Yukhei swung in front of him at Johnny’s command, and with everyone in closer proximity it seemed to be easier for him to call out directions.</p><p>“Sicheng and I can give you a crash course in elemental manipulation,” Jeno offered, and you didn’t have time to be surprised by him.</p><p>Sicheng didn’t seem to like this idea very much, but it was clear that he didn’t have time to talk you out of it, “Fire isn’t like air or water, it still has power even without someone manipulating it. You can’t go willy-nilly with it like Jeno or I.”</p><p>“I know,” you said.</p><p>“When you swing one of your arms, focus on extending the fire out with it, like you’re throwing a ball,” he continued.</p><p>“Y/N, left,” Johnny called out, and you reacted. Jeno recoiled back from your left side as you did so.</p><p>Slinging your right arm out, you threw out your hand, watching as a ball of fire left it and impacted with something. There was suddenly the form of a Wraith there, just a glimpse of its red eyes before the flames had traveled upwards, burning its entire being in a mere second.</p><p>“Hell yeah!” Jeno cheered out. “Now try putting both of your hands together, inner wrists touching, palms out, and imagine throwing up a wall of fire at them.”</p><p>He did the motions as he explained them to you, sending out a blast of air that blew around some of your hair.</p><p>“Jeno…” Sicheng said his name with caution.</p><p>“Y/N,” Johnny muttered.</p><p>“Where?” You replied, immediately on guard.</p><p>“Everywhere. They’re all… they know you…”</p><p>You didn’t have time to think, understanding exactly what he meant. Snapping your wrists together, you swung them both out, envisioning exactly what Jeno had told you to: a great wall of fire bursting forth from your hands as you moved them right to left. It revealed dozens of Wraiths in front of you, all alight now, a chilling chorus of wails ringing out as they burned up. The sight of the sparks and embers would have been almost beautiful to you if you hadn’t been fearing for yours and your friends lives the whole time. The swell of evil energy had dissipated, and you could finally breathe again.</p><p>A breath of relief had barely fallen from your mouth when you heard a hiss from beside you. One of Jeno’s feathers was alight as well, and he rushed to swat at it.</p><p>“Sorry, sorry!” You immediately extinguished the flames in your hands in your panic.</p><p>The Tengu waved you off, “That was so badass, Y/N, I’m not even mad about you singeing one of my feathers off.”</p><p>“But someone might be mad about that,” Renjun pointed at a billboard outside one of the buildings, half of it now engulfed in flames.</p><p>Sicheng brought a surge of water up from a manhole, quickly extinguishing the flames. The poor kid on the billboard who had been grinning brightly to show off his teeth—which were presumably cleaned by the dentist whose advertisement it was—now had a soot black smile.</p><p>“Oops,” you said sheepishly.</p><p>“We should get back to Lenticular before someone comes out to see why it smells like burning plastic out here,” Sicheng announced.</p><p>“Plastic?” You took a whiff of the air. “All I can smell is… petrichor? It smells like it just rained.”</p><p>Several of your friends gave you strange looks as Taeyong took another whiff, nose twitching. He shook his head before gagging and rubbing at his nose in an attempt to rid his nostrils of the smell, “It smells like burning plastic, Y/N. And it’s terrible, can we please leave?”</p><p>“Of course, yeah, let’s go.”</p><p>Everyone was pretty badly wounded, the injuries becoming even more pronounced as the adrenaline wore off. Renjun was hobbling, elbowing away any attempt to help him. Johnny’s forehead was still bleeding, his entire face, shirt, and arm coated deep red. Yukhei sheathed his blades at his hip to help Johnny along as the Domeki’s other two eyes were still closed, but you could tell that the Tsukumo-gami was favoring one side, wincing when he had to step up onto the sidewalk with his left foot. Yuta and Taeyong were probably faring the best, both just seeming rather tired, until you saw that Taeyong was cradling his left wrist to his chest. Jeno still had some pieces of glass embedded in his arm, and the cuts from earlier left trickles of dried and smeared blood across his skin. Sicheng had an arm around your shoulders, and you thought it was his own quiet show of support to you, until he stumbled forward and nearly took you down with him. You adjusted to wrap an arm around his waist and used your other hand against his chest to help keep him up. His heart was racing, beating way too fast.</p><p>“Sicheng are you having a heart attack or something?” You asked, worried.</p><p>“No, the water in my blood changes to mirror the water of whatever I just manipulated. You can imagine that sewer water isn’t great for my health,” he groaned out before stopping and retching. You narrowly avoided any splashback, patting his back through it.</p><p>“<em>Ugh</em>. Tastes like sewer water.”</p><p>“Let’s get you a nice clean glass of water back at the café, then.”</p><p>At the café, those who were faring better helped those who were worse off get settled in, and you made sure the door was locked. The protective charm would take care of supernatural intruders, but you couldn’t have some random patron wander in.</p><p>Bringing a glass of water out from the kitchen, you set it in front of Sicheng. You expected him to just do a little bit of manipulation and be done, but instead he dunked his entire hand in it. When he withdrew his appendage, the water had formed what looked like half a glove on the front of his hand, and he proceeded to rub it all over his face and any exposed skin he could reach, his iridescent scales popping back up in its wake. He seemed much more refreshed as he put the water back in the glass, although he still had various bruising and scrapes and cuts all over him that would take some time to heal.</p><p>“Thank you, Y/N,” he said before leaning his head back against the booth.</p><p>Letting him rest, you flitted over to where Johnny and Yuta were. The Kitsune had him laid down on his back on a table, and Taeyong came over with a damp rag and bowl of water to begin cleaning up the layer of dried blood on Johnny’s extremities from the wound.</p><p>“Thanks, Yong,” Yuta thanked him absentmindedly as he peeled Johnny’s hand off his forehead.</p><p>What looked to be a tattoo of an eye was revealed, elegant but dark lines except for the iris, which glowed and swirled in a multitude of colors. And there was a gash right through it. It didn’t blink, and you briefly wondered if it could. The liquid swelling up out of the cut was the same glowing ichor of the iris and turned to regular blood as it dripped down his skin.</p><p>Johnny groaned deeply, the pain contained in that low noise shaking your to your core.</p><p>“Sh, Johnny,” the Kitsune reassured him, hovering his own hand over the wound. “You stressed it a lot by still trying to see after it was wounded.”</p><p>You watched Yuta’s eyes gradually screw shut, mouth tightening into a grimace. The wound was disappearing before your eyes, Johnny’s own face relaxing.</p><p>Yuta let out a sharp breath, taking a step back and taking a long blink before saying, “You got him, Yong?”</p><p>“Yeah, Yuta, are you o—”</p><p>“Lee Jeno, don’t pull that glass out yet!” He barked at the Tengu, storming over there and leaving Taeyong’s question unanswered.</p><p>Johnny let out a noise, and you gently touched his cleaner arm, “Hey, how are you feeling?”</p><p>“Fine, better,” he squinted one of his regular eyes open to look at you. A finger was suddenly poking at your brow, “Stop frowning like that, its dimming your bright eyes, little lady.”</p><p>“Johnny, what happened?”</p><p>“Those Wraiths,” he pushed himself up into a sitting position, feet hanging over the edge of the table. Taeyong moved up with him, continuing to wipe at his bloody skin. The Domeki spoke to the whole room as he continued, “Those Wraiths were powerful. They were able to not only have the <em>forethought</em> to realize that I could see them while they were invisible, but they could draw out my third eye. They were way too powerful.”</p><p>“I agree,” Sicheng added from across the café.</p><p>“I’ve never— <em>Shit!</em>” Jeno’s statement was cut off by a yelp when Yuta extracted a particularly deep piece of glass. “I’ve never seen Wraiths turn invisible.”</p><p>The first aid kit must have been retrieved at some point, because Yuta applied some compresses to Jeno’s arm, ordering him to hold them there while he wrapped gauze around them.</p><p>“What, no magic healing for me? I have to suffer?” Jeno sneered at him.</p><p>“Yes,” Yuta replied coldly, pulling at it extra tight before tying the wrappings. “Anything that doesn’t require a trip to the hospital doesn’t require my healing.”</p><p>Next, he went over to Renjun, putting on the gloves from the first aid kit to look over and subsequently heal his ankle.</p><p>“You healed Taeyong’s wrist and Renjun’s sprained ankle,” Jeno apparently wanted to keep arguing this, and you wondered why the hell he wasn’t sleeping at this point.</p><p>Yuta ignored him, “Yukhei, any injuries?”</p><p>The Tsukumo-gami wordlessly opened his yukata to bare his left side.</p><p>“Fuck, dude,” Yuta breathed out, trailing a finger over the bruises that covered ninety percent of his side. “You broke <em>five</em> ribs.”</p><p>As Yuta brought a shaking hand up to heal him, Yukhei stopped him.</p><p>“What? You <em>want</em> five broken ribs?”</p><p>“Are you sure you wish to do this? You’ve already felt the suffering of a traumatic brain injury, a broken wrist, hurt third eye, and a sprained ankle, not to mention your own wounds. That’s a lot for one night. You don’t have to add in five broken ribs.”</p><p>Yuta shook the other man’s worries off, “It’s my job.”</p><p>And so Yuta healed him up as well, barely getting to his feet before collapsing. You rushed forward as Yukhei caught him. The large man easily picked Yuta up, laying him in one of the booths. Taeyong had already streaked over, cat ears twitching nervously and tails flicking anxiously as he knelt down to nose at his temple.</p><p>“He just needs some rest,” Yukhei assured the Nekomata before turning his focus to you. “You have been cursed, Onmyoji.”</p><p>“Excuse me?” You were immediately taken aback.</p><p>“You didn’t just extinguish the Wraiths, you purified them.”</p><p>“How is that a bad thing?” Renjun retorted.</p><p>“Purify…?” You repeated.</p><p>Sicheng gently asked, “Did Jungwoo ever explain to you where Wraiths come from?”</p><p>“No…”</p><p>“Some just spring forth from concentrations of great evil energy. But some are the corrupted souls of humans, or Onmoyji, or Ayakashi.”</p><p>“But I purified them, isn’t that good, then?”</p><p>“You purified them right before burning them to a crisp,” Yukhei reminded you dryly. “What you smelled was your signature. Petrichor.”</p><p>“My signature?”</p><p>“The smell of the souls you killed.”</p><p>“Okay, that’s enough, Yukhei!” Johnny suddenly entered the conversation, pushing on the Tsukumo-gami’s chest.</p><p>You tried to step back from him, your foot catching on something. You would’ve fallen if a strong pair of arms hadn’t caught you first. A feather tickled at your neck, and you wretched yourself from Jeno’s hold.</p><p>“Don’t touch me!” You spat out. “You’re the one who told me to—”</p><p>“I didn’t know that—”</p><p>“They weren’t just normal, evil Wraiths, but Wraiths that used to be people. I <em>killed</em> people,” you clasped a hand over your mouth as soon as you’d said those words, feeling like you were going to throw up.</p><p>“Y/N, they weren’t actually people,” Sicheng tried to reassure you. “Not anymore.”</p><p>You weren’t listening though, walking over to a booth and dropping yourself down in it, in utter disbelief. The sounds of your friends verbally ganging up on Yukhei faded into the background, but you weren’t paying attention. You hugged your knees to your chest, numb, hollow, as your brain tried to process this revelation. Your eyes locked on the red gems on your finger. As tears poured down your cheeks, you took your phone out of your back pocket and numbly texted the only person you wanted to see.</p><p>[you: can you come to lenticular café? i really need you here, please]</p>
<hr/><p>The sound of someone pushing on the door to the café came just minutes later, breaking your friends out of their quiet conversation. Then a fist was knocking on the door as Jaehyun’s voice came through the door, “Y/N? Y/N? I’m here, love, what’s wrong? Y/N!”</p><p>He had just started ramming the door with his shoulder when Johnny moved to open it, all of your Ayakashi friends’ supernatural attributes disappearing. When he opened it up, Jaehyun stumbled through. His eyes immediately zeroed in on you, and he ran over to you, not sparing a greeting or glance at the others. Which was beneficial, as it gave them an opportunity to turn back into their human forms.</p><p>“Y/N, oh my god, what happened to you?” At his horror, you realized that Yuta had passed out before he could take care of most of your superficial wounds, including a rather prominent throbbing on your cheek. “Who did this?” Jaehyun demanded, taking your face in both his hands to jerk your head around as he looked you over for more injuries. “I’ll fucking—” The rough treatment made you whimper, tears springing to your eyes, and he let go of your face as he took a deep breath to calm himself down, then gently stroked a thumb right under your split cheek. “Are you okay?”</p><p>“Yeah, Jae, I’m okay,” you reassured him, reaching up to grab his hand. Just him being there was already soothing you, and you pressed a light kiss to the inside of his wrist.</p><p>“What happened?”</p><p>You glanced over at Johnny, who nodded in understanding. Standing up, you took Jaehyun’s hand in yours, “We need to talk for a minute, Jaehyun.”</p><p>“Why? Was it him?”</p><p>“No, Jaehyun!” You snapped, “Calm down, it’s nobody here, okay? I told you, I’m okay. I just have something I’ve been meaning to tell you. Come on.”</p><p>You tugged on his hand insistently as you guided him to the back of the restaurant, moving the curtain aside to lead the way up the stairs to the loft. The second story was empty, and you brought Jaehyun to the couch to sit him down. He pulled you down to sit on his lap, wrapping two firm arms around you. He said nothing, looking up at you expectantly.</p><p>“It’s going to be a lot, and I’m going to sound crazy, but please, just listen,” you pleaded with him.</p><p>“Okay…”</p><p>“So I’m not exactly a normal human. I’m…” you braced yourself for the weird shit that was about to come out of your mouth. “I’m an Onmyoji. A Diviner, I can do magic. I’m actually one of the most powerful Onmyoji in a millennia, but uh,” you let out a nervous chuckle, “that really doesn’t mean much to you.”</p><p>Jaehyun’s eyes were wide as he studied you with clear skepticism, but he remained silent like you had requested, just listening.</p><p>“I only just found out a month before we started dating, about what I am. And I didn’t even get my powers until uh—until we… The night on the couch, when we were doing that literary analysis, turns out the intense embarrassment was a catalyst for turning my powers on. Anyway, I should probably show you, right?”</p><p>Your boyfriend nodded slowly, probably still trying to comprehend your nervous ramblings. You leaned forward to grab a pad of paper and a pen from the table in front of the couch. Writing a short note on it, you then ripped the top sheet from the pad.</p><p>“Take flight to Jeno,” you clearly instructed, eyeing Jaehyun to make sure he was watching as you flicked your wrist upwards. The paper immediately turned into an origami swan and promptly sailed out of the room. His eyes followed its path with intrigue until it was out of sight. He looked at you silently, clearing trying to see if you were going to say or do anything else. You gestured for him to wait.</p><p>Sure enough, you heard footsteps coming up the stairs, and Jeno soon stood at the top, your swan now unfolded in his hands. He leaned in the doorway, looking at you with an eyebrow raised as his eyes flicked between you and Jaehyun, “So you’re…”</p><p>“Telling Jaehyun about Onmyoji and Ayakashi? Yeah, I am,” you affirmed, then waved him in. “C’mere, Jeno.”</p><p>The Tengu did as you asked, stopping to stand beside the end of the couch you were seated on. You spoke once more to Jaehyun, “In addition to Onmyoji like myself, there are also Ayakashi. They’re supernatural creatures. Jeno here is a Tengu, a kind of Ayakashi.”</p><p>You looked to him expectantly, and thankfully he seemed to get the idea. His black wings sprouted forth from his back, stretching out to an impressive wingspan. Looking to Jaehyun uncertainly, you were happy to see his eyes stretched wide in amazement. Not horror, and he wasn’t running for the hills. Just… surprised.</p><p>“Seriously?” He asked, looking between you and Jeno, as if you were orchestrating an elaborate practical joke.</p><p>“Seriously.”</p><p>“Can I touch them?”</p><p>Jeno immediately folded the wings behind his back, scowling at the human, “No! Keep your hands to yourself, dude.”</p><p>The humorous interaction helped to lighten your mood, a hint of a smile almost tugging at your lips.</p><p>“Sorry, sorry,” your boyfriend held up his hands in surrender. “So… does Jaemin know about those?”</p><p>“No,” the Tengu’s feathers were both metaphorically and literally ruffled at his questions. “And you can’t tell him.”</p><p>“I won’t,” he swore, rubbing a hand up and down your back. “I… wow.”</p><p>“Are you okay with this?” You asked hesitantly, and his eyes immediately met yours, turning soft as he looked at you.</p><p>“Of course, yeah. It’s just… a lot to process.”</p><p>With a giggle, you hopped off his lap and pulled him to his feet, “Come on, you’ve got a whole lot more to process.”</p><p>Jeno followed the two of you downstairs, and when the three of you exited the curtain, all eyes were on you in the café. The Tengu’s wings were still out as he plopped himself onto a table, eagerly awaiting what you were about to do.</p><p>Gripping Jaehyun’s arm, you began pointing to your friends, “So Jeno’s a Tengu—now pay attention, there’s going to be a quiz after this—Sicheng is a Mizuchi dragon,” the man’s eyes turned blue and his scales reappeared as he showed off by drawing a small ball of water up out of the glass and turning it into a horse, “Renjun is a Satori seer,” the boy blinked and his eyes were immediately different colors, “Johnny is a Domeki,” the chef was suddenly covered head to toe in black tattoos of eyes, “Yukhei is a Tsukumo-gami,” he changed from modern clothes to his yukata in an instant, “Taeyong is a Nekomata,” the man who had previously been curled up on Yuta’s chest in his cat form leapt off to turn into his true form now with two snow white ears and tails, “and Yuta is a Kitsune,” at the sound of his name, the now-awake healer sat up, suddenly sprouting his black ears and three black tails.</p><p>“Have you always…?” Jaehyun trailed off as he stared at Yuta.</p><p>“Surprise!” Yuta grinned.</p><p>“And Taeyong is also a cat…”</p><p>You patted your boyfriend’s arm, “Yeah, he’s actually, uh, he’s actually Tama.”</p><p>Horror finally overtook his features as he came to the exact same realization you had, “That’s why you didn’t want to… with your cat watching, because he was…”</p><p>Taeyong bristled at the memory, nose wrinkling, “Yes.”</p><p>“I am so sorry…” he whispered. “You almost saw my—”</p><p>“Okay we’re done with that conversation!” You loudly cut him off.</p><p>A couple of the others were snickering, and you were happy that the dreadful tone of the café was being relieved.</p><p>Jaehyun’s gaze fell back on you, and you saw his face fall once more, “How did you get hurt, Y/N?”</p><p>“There’s Onmyoji, Ayakashi, and another kind of supernatural creature, Wraiths. They’re evil, corrupted spirits. We were out fighting them, and they were really, <em>really</em> powerful,” your voice got softer as you remembered the fight, what you had to do to get rid of them.</p><p>“Yeah, hey, can we uh talk about that?” Renjun butted in. “Like we were before Yukhei entirely ruined the mood?”</p><p>“Does anybody know why they were so powerful?” You asked, guiding Jaehyun to sit in a chair while you sat on the table beside him, feet swinging.</p><p>Before anybody could answer your question, the front door to Lenticular Café was burst open, and you flinched at the sudden noise. Jaehyun’s hand found your knee, thumb rubbing soothing circles on your skin.</p><p>The intruder was Mark, his eyes wide as he darted over to you, blurting out, “I am so sorry!”</p><p>“I thought you had work— <em>wait</em> why are you sorry?”</p><p>“I’ve—” his voice strained and cracked with nerves as he forced the words out. “I’vebeencontrollingtheWraithsandjustwantedtoyouknowtestyoucheckinandseehowyourpowerswerecomingalong—”</p><p>You interrupted his incessant ramblings with absolute fury and disbelief, “By siccing <em>Wraiths</em> on me and my friends? You shouldn’t be messing with that shit in the first place, much less making them <em>attack</em> anybody!”</p><p>“I didn’t mean for anybody to actually get hurt!”</p><p>“They threw me through a window!” Jeno yelled out, standing up from his perch on the back of a booth.</p><p>Sicheng cut in harshly, “And broke Taeyong’s wrist and sprained Renjun’s ankle and broke five of Yukhei’s ribs and injured Johnny’s third eye and gave Y/N a traumatic brain injury and whatever other fucking wounds we all have. Yuta <em>passed out</em> just tryingto heal the <em>worst</em> of our injuries.”</p><p>“It was an accident, I lost control of the Wraiths and they… did this. I’m sorry, to all of you,” Mark’s eyes watered, but you couldn’t bring yourself to care much about his own anguish in that moment. He broke one of Jungwoo’s most important rules <em>and</em> hurt you and all of your friends in the process.</p><p>“<em>You</em> did this,” Jaehyun’s voice was low and dangerous as he rose from his seat with clenched fists.</p><p>“Jae,” you grabbed his arm. “Don’t.”</p><p>“Why not?”</p><p>“He’s just stupid. Not worth your time.”</p><p>The Onmyoji nodded fervently in agreement, eyes wide and pleading now.</p><p>“But you should still leave, Mark,” you stared him down coldly, making sure he knew that you weren’t doing this for him. “First of all, because I don’t want to fucking see you right now. And second of all, if you stay here any longer, I can’t promise that I’ll give enough shits to stop anybody from taking a swing at you again.”</p><p>“Of course. Again, I’m sorry,” he repeated sincerely to everybody before running out as fast as he had come in, followed by glaring eyes the whole way.</p><p>You didn’t care how sincere he was now, he still dabbled with evil and hurt your friends in doing so. And made you resort to killing people. He didn’t deserve your forgiveness. And you didn’t deserve anybody else’s either.</p><p>Johnny finally broke the tense silence, “Well, that explains how the Wraiths got so powerful. An Onmyoji was supplying supplemental power.”</p><p>Nobody replied. There was nothing more to say to that. And you were tired, you were so tired, it all suddenly struck you like a lead train. Gently sliding off the table back onto your own two feet, you declared quietly, “I’m going home. Text you guys later.”</p><p>“Yuta shouldn’t be left alone while he recovers,” Taeyong piped up from where he still hadn’t left the Kitsune’s side.</p><p>“Okay, then stay with him,” you easily accepted, pulling his head closer to be able to kiss between his ears. “See you later, Yongie. And heal up, Yuta, okay? Don’t do any stupid shit.”</p><p>“Oh yeah, I’m going to take a forty-eight hour nap,” Yuta nodded, letting Taeyong wrap his arm around the Nekomata’s shoulders to serve as a support as they departed.</p><p>Giving everyone else a half-hearted wave, you grabbed Jaehyun’s hand and took leave of the café.</p><p>“We’re going to patch you up properly at your apartment,” Jaehyun informed you out on the sidewalks.</p><p>“Okay.”</p><p>“And I’m going to stay the night.”</p><p>“Okay.”</p><p>“Something else happened to you tonight, Y/N, that you haven’t told me about.”</p><p>You were silent, chewing on the inside of your cheek, the faint smell of petrichor still lingering in your nostrils, although you were sure you were just imagining it.</p><p>“I’m not going to force it out of you, but whenever you’re ready, I’ll listen, alright?”</p><p>“Okay.”</p>
<hr/><p>At your apartment, Jaehyun drew you a warm bath to get the layer of grime and blood off of you, sitting on the tile beside the bathtub to hold a glass of water up to your lips and let you take small sips. The bathwater stung your wounds, but you pushed through it. After getting dried off and dressed in comfortable clothes, you were a ragdoll as you let Jaehyun tend to your wounds, and there were more of them than you had realized. A split cheek, road burn that extended down both your forearms, your knees and elbows skinned raw, little nicks everywhere, and you were sure that in the morning you’d be covered in miscellaneous bruises as well. The rubbing alcohol that he cleaned up the worst of the wounds with stung and made you hiss and curse. He pressed tender kisses onto every dressing and bandage that he put down, and you thought that if he was any sweeter to you, you might cry.</p><p>As he smoothed down the bandage on your cheek, the final dressing, and he kissed that one too, his breath fanning over your skin for a moment. Your position on your kitchen counter made it easy for him to move up and press a kiss to your forehead.</p><p>“Let me guess, you got so good at fixing wounds from boxing, right?” You had meant for that to come off as humorous, but instead your voice croaked and cracked every other syllable.</p><p>“Yeah,” he replied, leaving the both of you quiet.</p><p>“Say something, Jae,” you whispered, finally unable to take the suffocating silence as he was simply staring down at you.</p><p>“Like what?”</p><p>“You just found out that I can do magic and have friends that are supernatural creatures and we’ve been going out fighting evil spirits that were being controlled by my other friend who does magic. Don’t you have <em>anything</em> to say about that? Questions? <em>Something</em>?”</p><p>Jaehyun took a deep breath, pulling back from you to pick your hands up from your lap and entwine them with his, “You should get some sleep, Y/N.”</p><p>He stepped back from you and gently tugged on one hand to encourage you to hop off the counter and follow him to your bedroom. After sitting you at the head of your bed, Jaehyun found the drawer where he had a few overnight clothes stored in, changing into a pair of sweatpants and t-shirt, then inspected the small stack of books on your dresser, choosing one before joining you on the bed, sitting up against the headboard and tucked under the covers.</p><p>You assumed your natural position with your head in his lap, one of his hands claimed by you. Usually you had him play with your hair, but this time you just wanted to cradle it to your chest, to feel his warmth and remind yourself that he was here with you. He’d chosen a book of fairytales and began reading the very first one.</p><p>His voice was as warm as his skin, smooth and easily able to lull you closer and closer to dreamland until your eyes finally fluttered shut and you were out.</p>
<hr/><p>Wherever you were was hazy, you couldn’t tell background from foreground, all of it a simple, dull gray. The fogginess made your eyes blink, your brain trying to get rid of the fuzziness, but it persisted. A shadowy figure suddenly appeared in front of you, red eyes staring at you. A Wraith. You had to banish it, and so you willed it away. But it was still there. You opened your mouth to recite the incantation instead, but no sound came out.</p><p>More appeared behind it, ten, dozens, hundreds, thousands. You couldn’t banish them.</p><p>Then they were replaced by visages of people. Men, women, children, mothers, fathers, grandparents. All staring at you with those same red eyes.</p><p><em>They aren’t actually people, not anymore.</em> You tried to placate yourself with Sicheng’s words, squeezing your eyes shut tight, your fists mirroring them, nails digging into the flesh of your palm. When you opened them, the people were still there, still staring at you accusatorily.</p><p>You tried to apologize to them, but still, you couldn’t speak. The one at the front stepped forward, nearing you, and the fuzziness concealed its face to you, like static on a television. The static suddenly cut out, and you felt your throat constrict when you saw that it was Mark.</p><p>“Y/N, Y/N,” your name being called to you softly and a hand gently shaking your shoulder woke you up.</p><p>You jerked around to look at the owner of the hand, eyes wide in fear. It was Jaehyun, hair mussed up as he offered you a tired smile, “Hey, love.”</p><p>His voice was deep and groggy with sleep as he kept talking in that same soft tone, “You were screaming, Y/N.”</p><p>The last thing you remembered was Jaehyun reading to you, but when you glanced at your bedside clock, you saw that was hours ago. Your pillow was wet, and when you touched a hand to your face and chest you found that those were wet too.</p><p>“And crying,” he added, rubbing a hand up and down your arm. “Nightmare?”</p><p>You opened your mouth to reply, but no sound came out. Frantically, you tried again, and a voice that you barely recognized as your own croaked out, “Yeah.”</p><p>Your throat stung. You must have screamed a lot.</p><p>“I’ll go get you a glass of water,” he offered.</p><p>Before he could even move to do so, you rolled over into his body and buried your face in his chest, letting out a deep but shaky breath. He immediately wrapped two strong arms around you, holding you close.</p><p>“Okay, no water right now. Do you want to talk?” His chest rumbled underneath you with his words.</p><p>“The Wraiths…” your voice still scared you, and you desperately swallowed as much spit as you could to alleviate the sound. “Some of them used to be people. And I <em>killed</em> them, Jae.”</p><p>The hand that had been rubbing up and down your back didn’t even falter as you admitted that, continuing to soothe you as Jaehyun took a moment to collect his thoughts.</p><p>He finally declared with such simple words, “You’re not a bad person, Y/N.”</p><p>“How do you know?”</p><p>“Because you’re upset by this. Someone else might justify it by saying that they’re <em>not</em> people so it doesn’t <em>matter</em> if you killed them. But you’re shaken up by it. Only a good person would be affected by it, be conscious of the implications of their actions. And you are, so therefore you’re a good person.”</p><p>You sniffled, pressing further into him—if that was even possible, “Thank you, Jae.”</p><p>“Of course, Y/N,” he dropped a kiss to your hair.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. [five]</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The next time you woke up was peacefully, still in Jaehyun’s arms. You let out a noise from the back of your throat, half contentment in being there and the other half disgruntlement at being awake. You really were tired, not only physically but spiritually from the divining you had to do last night.</p><p>His shirt had been clenched in your fist as you slept, and you released it, smoothing your hand up his chest to instead grace over his jawline. Your eyes followed your hand up, and you saw that he was still sleeping peacefully. You couldn’t help but bring a finger to his cheekbones and nose as well, letting out a giggle when you noticed the drool at the corner of his mouth.</p><p>“And what are you laughing at?” He muttered, not even opening his eyes as he readjusted to pull you practically on top of him.</p><p>“A handsome, smart, wonderful, beautiful man,” you punctuated each compliment with a kiss to his bicep that was by your mouth. “With drool on his chin.”</p><p>His response was to playfully growl and flip you over, nearly suffocating you under his form as his fingers reached to tickle you. You thrashed as laughs that blended into screeches erupted from your mouth. You hit him half-heartedly, starting to feel dizzy before he finally gave in, flopping down right on top of you.</p><p>Grunting with the sudden added weight, you didn’t push him away, instead encircling your arms around his neck. His face was buried against your collarbone, muffling his words.</p><p>“What was that, Jae?” You asked, tapping the back of his head indicatively.</p><p>He turned his head to the side just enough to free up his mouth for talking, “You’re the only person who calls me Jae.”</p><p>“What? Doesn’t Jaemin—”</p><p>“Nope.”</p><p>“Yuta?”</p><p>“No.”</p><p>“Your family?”</p><p>“You <em>know</em> my mom calls me NiNi.”</p><p>“I know, just wanted to hear you say it,” you snickered at his disgruntled look, poking his exposed cheek. “Aw, don’t pout like that, NiNi!”</p><p>“Don’t make me tickle you again.”</p><p>“Okay I surrender,” you resigned as you looked fondly at him. “So what, you don’t want me to call you Jae?”</p><p>Jaehyun shook his head before pressing a feather-light kiss to your collarbone, “No, it’s just an observation.”</p><p>“Alright, NiNi.”</p><p>You were fully expecting him to get up and tickle you again, but instead he just rolled the two of you over, bringing you back on top of him once more. The sheets were entirely tangled between you two now, wrapped all around your legs as well. You managed to pull some of the ones between your chests out so you could properly feel him beneath you.</p><p>“I love you, Y/N,” Jaehyun said softly, looking up at you with the most adoration you’d ever seen. “Jaemin told me to do it ‘right’ for you, since I’m your first real boyfriend. Nice dinner, flowers, whatever. But I can’t wait, because now feels <em>right</em> to me. I love you so much, Y/N, that I think my heart might burst out of my chest. And I wish you would never get hurt again. But if you do, that I’ll be there with you. Because I love you, with all of my heart.”</p><p>And you finally cried. You hadn’t cried at all last night, even throughout everything that you did and that happened to you—aside from the nightmare. But now tears poured down your face in continuous streams, and you were nearly limp in Jaehyun’s arms as he hugged you close to him. Unfortunately, gravity only dripped them down onto his face, making a strangled giggle bubble up out of you in lieu of an apology. He turned the two of you so that you were on your sides and he could properly wipe at your tears.</p><p>Even after all of this, after telling him about a whole other part of your life that you’d been hiding from him, telling him about what exactly you had killed last night, he still loved you. You weren’t sure if you deserved this, but you’d be damned if you didn’t accept it.</p><p>“I love you too, Jung Jaehyun,” you whispered back to him, reaching a hand up to cradle his cheek and pull his lips to yours.</p><hr/><p>The next day was Sunday, and Jaehyun was still staying at your apartment when Taeyong came back from Yuta’s.</p><p>“Hey, Yong,” you pulled him into a hug upon him entering. “How’s Yuta doing?”</p><p>“A lot better,” he replied, nuzzling his nose to your neck. “You smell like…”</p><p>He trailed off when his eyes flicked up to take note of the other person in the room. Jaehyun was standing some ways back, having gotten up to greet him as well.</p><p>“Not yourself,” Taeyong finished before straightening up.</p><p>“So… you’re her cat,” Jaehyun established awkwardly.</p><p>He bristled, “And her friend.”</p><p>“Look, Taeyong, I really am sorry about—”</p><p>“Hey!” You cut in authoritatively. “We’re never bringing that up again. End of discussion.”</p><p>“Thank you,” Taeyong shuddered, presumably at the thought of what he had nearly witnessed that night.</p><p>“I was just—”</p><p>“Jaehyun, leave it!”</p><p>“Okay. So where does he sleep?”</p><p>“At the foot of my bed in his cat form.”</p><p>“Got it… What do you eat?”</p><hr/><p>Monday morning you woke up beside Jaehyun again. He’d only left your side once and that was to get school clothes from his place the day before when you decided that he’d be staying the night again. He didn’t want to leave you by yourself at night yet, just in case you had another nightmare, and you didn’t want him to leave you either. You weren’t sure exactly, but just having him there made it feel like you could sleep easier.</p><p>Confused, you saw that he was still in his pajamas when you sat up. He was awake, reading of course.</p><p>“You didn’t go to the gym?” You muttered, leaning against his shoulder to see what he was reading. The Odyssey.</p><p>“No, I wanted to be with you when you woke up,” he explained quietly. “I’ll go for a run later.”</p><p>You pushed down your immediate want to insist that he doesn’t disrupt his own schedule for you—a habit of wanting to not feel like a burden—and instead said, “Thank you.”</p><p>He closed the book on his thumb to lean down and catch your lips with his. You kissed him back with ardor, pulling back a moment later to say, “Good morning, I love you.”</p><p>“Good morning, I love you more,” he whispered back.</p><p>“Good morning, I want to puke,” came a voice from the end of your bed. Taeyong was sitting there in his cat form, clearly not amused by the sight in front of him.</p><p>“You can talk like that, he can talk like that, great,” Jaehyun’s surprise turned to acceptance as he stuck his bookmark into his book and set it on your nightstand before swinging his legs over the side of the bed. “I’m going to take a shower.”</p><p>“I’ll make breakfast,” you said, unable to hide your amusement at him still getting used to all the weird parts of your life.</p><hr/><p>Walking onto campus hand-in-hand with him brought a certain kind of butterflies to your stomach. And this time the pretty, fluttery kind, not the giant, flesh-eating, acid-spitting moths from before. While you realistically knew that absolutely nobody would care about this little thing, your brain still felt like it was going to cause a scandal just a little bit. You, a student, openly dating the TA of your class. But when the world didn’t explode throughout your entire short trip to the quad, the butterflies settled back down.</p><p>Jaemin was sitting on the planter, allowing his leg to be used as a pillow for Yuta, who thankfully looked a lot better than he had the last time you saw him. He was laying on his back as he flipped through a packet of some sort, and only spared you and Jaehyun a glance before returning to it.</p><p>“Shit, Y/N, what happened to your face?” Jaemin gasped, and you had honestly forgotten about the bandage still over your healing cut and the bruising around your eye. You had a hoodie to cover up most of the damage to your arms, and jeans to cover your legs, but there wasn’t much that you could do about your face.</p><p>You easily spun up a lie, “Jae took me to one of his boxing lessons and—”</p><p>“<em>He</em>—”</p><p>“No,” you insisted. “I was sparring with another student. Didn’t block well enough.”</p><p>“You got the bitch back, right?”</p><p>“Hell yeah she did,” Jaehyun wrapped arm around your shoulders to pull you towards him proudly.</p><p>“Good,” Jaemin grinned before his face turned serious again. “But never go to one again. Stick to books, you big nerd.”</p><p>“Hey, Jae’s a bigger nerd than me!”</p><p>“It’s balanced out by the boxing,” Yuta drawled, eyes still on his papers. “Keep up, Y/N.”</p><p>“And what are <em>you</em> doing, Yuta?”</p><p>“Reviewing this case study before class. I’m supposed to be presenting it in ten minutes.”</p><p>Jaemin spoke up, “Apparently Yuta was at a <em>rager</em> all weekend and is still a little hungover.”</p><p>“Still have enough wits to hit you, Na Jaemin.”</p><hr/><p>As soon as you stepped foot in your World Literature classroom, your throat seized up for a split second. Mark was there, red hoodie pulled up around his face as he sat slumped in his seat. His head snapped up as soon as he heard the door open, hopeful eyes landing on you immediately.</p><p>“You going to be okay?” Jaehyun asked you for the third time that morning.</p><p>“Yeah,” you nodded resolutely, squeezing his hand. “Talk to you after class.”</p><p>Confidently making your way to your seat, you sat down beside Mark like you always did. He sat up straight now, eyes clearly taking in the damage to your face again.</p><p>“I’m so sorry,” he whispered. “But I have information, I can help you guys get rid of them all! Please let me fix what I did.”</p><p>You pursed your lips, still not exactly over what he’d done, even if it was an accident. But you knew that in order to take care of the Wraith problem, having the person who started it in the first place on your side would help a lot.</p><p>“We’re all meeting at my apartment tonight. Seven o’clock. I’ll tell everyone not to kill you. No guarantees though.”</p><p>“Thank you, Y/N. I’ll be there.”</p><hr/><p>You nervously looked around your living room again. Your protective charm was set up, you’d cleared off your coffee table and fixed up the mess on your couch. Not everybody would have somewhere to sit, but they should all fit, even with the addition of Jungwoo and Mark. You assumed that Yukhei had told him what happened, what Mark had done, since he was coming down from his shrine for the first time in a long while.</p><p>Jaehyun emerged from the kitchen to place a hand on the small of your back and press a kiss to your forehead, “When are they coming?”</p><p>“Seven. But Johnny said him and Renjun would come fifteen minutes early to set up the food,” you reminded him. “I think his constant state of being is cooking.”</p><p>“Seems like it.”</p><p>Just a few minutes later, a knock at your door roused Taeyong from his catnap in the corner of the sofa, and you went over to let Johnny and Renjun in. Sicheng was next, as punctual as ever, then Jeno, then Yukhei and Jungwoo, then Yuta.</p><p>“That’s everybody?” Sicheng double-checked, probably doing a mental roll call.</p><p>“No, I told Mark to come as well,” you announced, receiving the immediate backlash that you were anticipating.</p><p>Jeno and Renjun were the most vocal about their disapproval, while the others joined in at a somewhat lower volume. Jungwoo and Yukhei were the only quiet ones, your mentor clinging to his brother’s arm.</p><p>“Hey!” You yelled out to silence them. “I know how we all feel about him. But he’s the one who started this whole mess, he can give us some more information about it. So please, don’t kill him.”</p><p>“I agree with Lady Onmyoji,” Jungwoo spoke up, voice quiet but still commanding the room.</p><p>That seemed to calm everybody down a bit more, allowing you to hear the knock at your front door. You moved to open it, letting Mark enter. He was met with several glares and general distrust and disapproval. You didn’t really have warm fuzzies for him either, if you were to be honest with yourself.</p><p>“Thanks for coming,” you murmured to him as you brought him further into the room.</p><p>The Onmyoji nervously stood between you and Taeyong, who hissed when he’d accidentally bumped his arm.</p><p>“Tell us what the fuck you did, Mark,” you ordered, crossing your arms over your chest.</p><p>He took a deep breath before speaking, keeping his word speed down unlike a few nights ago, “I was controlling them, and inherently made them more powerful by doing so. When I saw that you guys had actually gotten hurt, I severed my connection with them. But I did it too fast and didn’t take the power back.”</p><p>“So now they’re supercharged Wraiths with nobody controlling them?” Renjun spat out.</p><p>“Yeah…”</p><p>“So what’s the plan?” Jaehyun asked.</p><p>“The… what?” You couldn’t conceal your surprise at his words.</p><p>“The plan, to stop the Wraiths.”</p><p>“What do you mean? Jae, you’re…”</p><p>“A human? I’m not an Ayakashi or an Onmyoji? Yeah, I’m not. But I’m still helping you, Y/N.”</p><p>You nodded, taking his hand in yours, “Okay.”</p><p>Yuta interrupted your heartfelt moment, “Adorable. Jaehyun’s right, what are we supposed to do about them?”</p><p>You rolled your bottom lip between your teeth, “I mean, do we <em>have</em> to do anything about them? I know it’s not ideal for them to be more powerful than usual, but if they’re just, you know… chilling, do we actually have to do anything about them?”</p><p>“They do not think past their own basic needs typically,” Jungwoo countered. “One of those basic needs, however, is the need to destroy.”</p><p>“Oh, I see.”</p><p>“We could just continue our patrols, banish Wraiths when needed,” Johnny suggested.</p><p>“Isn’t there anything <em>preventative</em> we could do?” You asked, not wanting to just have to wait around for the Wraiths to do anything like that again.</p><p>The Ayakashi around you all shook their heads or shrugged before Mark piped up again.</p><p>“I don’t know of anything off the top of my head, but I do know somewhere we could look.”</p><p>“Where?” Sicheng’s blue eyes were glaring daggers into the boy as he questioned him.</p><p>“My dad’s library. He’s got mountains of books on Onmyoji, Ayakashi, Wraiths, anything and everything supernatural.”</p><p>“That sounds like a good idea. You and I could look after class tomorrow,” you suggested.</p><p>“There’s a lot of content, we’ll need more than just two pairs of eyes.”</p><p>“I’ll go with Y/N,” Taeyong declared, still regarding Mark with suspicion.</p><p>Jaehyun offered, “I’ll help. I’m a good skimmer.”</p><p>“Ten will be willing to help out too, I’m sure!” Mark added, clearly wanting to prove his usefulness to you all.</p><p>“That’s five, do you think we’ll need more?” You asked him.</p><p>“The more people we have, the faster we’ll get through it,” Jaehyun answered instead.</p><p>“I have tomorrow off, I’ll help,” Sicheng said.</p><p>“I as well,” Jungwoo added, Yukhei nodding to show his commitment as well.</p><p>“Great,” you breathed out. “Mark, can you send flying notes and/or texts for the time and your address tomorrow?”</p><p>“Of course,” he nodded hurriedly.</p><hr/><p>Sitting cross-legged on the floor of the library in Mark’s mother’s house, you had a book opened across your lap. It was already your fifth one that you were desperately skimming through. Jaehyun, Taeyong, Mark, Ten, Sicheng, Jungwoo, and Yukhei were spread around the rather large room as well, each of you with stacks of books beside you. You’d already been at this for almost two hours, and the words were beginning to swim in front of your eyes.</p><p>A knock at the doorway alerted you to Mrs. Lee having entered the room. She had a tray of food, and carefully stepped over Yukhei and his spread of books to reach the table that had been covered in Jaehyun’s readings. He moved a few books aside to allow her to set the snacks down, then she left as carefully as she came before returning with a pitcher of lemonade.</p><p>“Figured you might want to take a short break,” she explained kindly. You were unsure of how much and what exactly Mark told her, but she seemed to have no problem with the eight of you taking over a portion of her house for hours on end.</p><p>A chorus of ‘thank you Mrs. Lee’s rang out, Mark standing to peck his mother’s cheek, mumbling his own thanks to her. She departed as you were distributing out the food and drink.</p><p>As you gulped down the miniature sandwich in your mouth, you strode around the room, stretching your legs out, “Alright, anybody found anything useful?”</p><p>Everyone shook their heads.</p><p>“Me neither,” you groaned. “Let’s review what we know already, see if we can narrow our focus.”</p><p>“Wraiths are evil spirits,” Jaehyun began with the obvious.</p><p>Sicheng continued, “They come from concentrations of evil energy or corrupted souls.”</p><p>“Mark established a power multiplier with them,” Ten drawled. Despite being Mark’s True Ayakashi, he didn’t seem thrilled about his choice.</p><p>“And broke it too soon, leaving them with all of the power I gave them,” Mark mumbled sheepishly.</p><p>You shook your head, “Let’s forget about that for a second. Go back to generalities of Wraiths. The <em>nature</em> of Wraiths. When nobody’s controlling them, what do they do?”</p><p>“They are drawn in by concentrations of great power,” Jungwoo spoke up. “Such as you, Lady Onmyoji.”</p><p>“They’ve left me alone since that night, I haven’t sensed a single Wraith anywhere near my apartment or school.”</p><p>Sicheng surmised, “Then there’s something nearby that’s more powerful than you that they’re being drawn to.”</p><p>You all looked at each other, waiting to see if someone else had any idea about what it could be. Jungwoo and Yukhei exchanged a glance before your mentor spoke up once more.</p><p>“The shrine,” he said. “After I left they must have gone there.”</p><p>“Why would they go there?” You asked, head tilted with confusion.</p><p>“Underneath the shrine there is a great evil. It is the only thing that I can think of that they would congregate around aside from you.”</p><p>“If it was such a great evil, why’d you leave it alone?” Ten called out accusatorily.</p><p>Jungwoo’s features suddenly contorted into those of anger, the expression so unfamiliar to you that it gave you chills. His voice was harsh and stern as he snapped, “Because your Onmyoji conversed with evil and now requires us to rid the city of the problem he has created!”</p><p>The room was silent in the moments after his outburst. None of you had heard Jungwoo even get <em>annoyed</em>, much less actually angry and snap at someone like that. Mark was looking down at his lap where his hands were, trembling. You didn’t think there was anything for you to say. Jungwoo was right, nobody could argue against that.</p><p>“I’m sorry…” Mark whispered, sounding all too loud.</p><p>Sicheng finally broke the tense quiet that had followed, “A few of us should go to the shrine, confirm but not engage while the others remain here and keep looking.”</p><p>“I’ll go,” you replied immediately. Honestly, you were starting to feel suffocated in there, and going to the shrine felt like something entirely more useful for you to do. “Jae, you should stay and keep reading, you’re the fastest of any of us.”</p><p>He nodded in response to your suggestion.</p><p>“I’ll come too,” Ten offered, mouth pulling into a grin. “I’ve never been.”</p><p>Yukhei stood up and turned into his true form, hand resting over the hilts of his sheathed broadswords. Looks like he was coming too.</p><p>“Four should be enough,” Sicheng announced.</p><p>Both Jaehyun and Taeyong stood up to see you off, your boyfriend pecking your forehead and mumbling a ‘stay safe’ to you, and the Nekomata rubbing his head against your neck, wordlessly expressing his worry.</p><hr/><p>As soon as you were at the base of the mountain, you could feel the evil energy seeping down from it. So far it was seeming like Jungwoo was right.</p><p>Ten inhaled sharply from beside you, then cursed under his breath, “<em>Fuck</em>. Stupid kid.”</p><p>“Did you seriously not know that Mark was doing this?” You asked Ten, eyebrow raised in doubt. “You’re his True Ayakashi <em>and</em> his roommate.”</p><p>“I knew he was doing something that he didn’t want to tell me about, but my research has been keeping out of the apartment a lot recently. I was just hoping he had started seeing someone and wanted to keep it a secret for some reason.”</p><p>“Well, you were sort of right.”</p><p>There was a booming laughter from your other side, and you turned to look at Yukhei with wide eyes, jaw dropping when you realized that <em>he</em> was the one laughing. It was a hearty laugh, one that you could feel reverberate in your own chest. As he sobered back up, his face returned its same neutral, serious expression.</p><p>“Did you just…” you trailed off in disbelief, then elation overtook you. “You just <em>laughed</em>. I made you laugh! I told you I was going to. I just didn’t think <em>that</em> would’ve been what finally did you in.”</p><p>“I never said I didn’t laugh,” he retorted frankly.</p><p>“Doesn’t matter, I feel vindicated.”</p><p>You four were only at the first fork in the trails when you grabbed Sicheng’s arm and halted.</p><p>“What is it?” The Mizuchi dragon asked you with concern.</p><p>“There’s a lot of Wraiths,” you murmured, remembering what you had to do the last time you had to deal with them.</p><p>“We’re just here to observe, Y/N, remember?” Sicheng reassured you. “We’re not fighting them or anything.”</p><p>“I know.”</p><p>“Okay then, come on.”</p><p>You all had just started moving again when Ten suddenly hissed, and you looked over to see blood dripping down his arm. Immediately, he was in his battle form, bright glowing webs suspended between his fingers morphing together he spun around, throwing them out like a whip. He must have struck something, as purple sparks suddenly erupted in the air, much like Yukhei’s blades had before.</p><p>“The Wraiths are invisible again,” you groaned. “We can’t fight them, we don’t have Johnny.”</p><p>There were more surrounding you, and you grabbed Sicheng’s arm again, “Come <em>on</em>, we have to go back!”</p><p>The four of you fled the mountain, only slowing down once you hit sidewalk again for the Ayakashi to turn back into their normal human forms. But you didn’t stop to catch your breath until you were back in Mrs. Lee’s house.</p><p>The sound of the front door being practically knocked off its hinges must have alerted the others to your return, as they were all standing either within the library or by the entrance to it. You skidded to a stop by Jaehyun, letting Taeyong nuzzle into your one side as your boyfriend checked over your other side.</p><p>“What happened?” Jaehyun asked as he looked you over for injuries roughly again.</p><p>Jungwoo peered at the four of you, “Are you alright?”</p><p>Ten lifted up his arm, where the blood had already soaked through his shirt, “Just me.”</p><p>“We couldn’t even get near the shrine,” you breathed out deeply as Mark ran out from the room and returned with a first aid kit. “The Wraiths were invisible again and they were <em>everywhere</em>. The first fork was the furthest we could get.”</p><p>Mark brought Ten into his kitchen to rinse his wound out in the sink, and your group followed to keep up the conversation.</p><p>“We need to call everyone over,” Sicheng announced.</p><p>“To keep going through the library?” You asked with skepticism. It all seemed rather pointless, there was a nearly infinite plethora of tomes of knowledge in there, and nothing had been remotely useful yet.</p><p>“It’s the best option we have right now,” the Mizuchi dragon declared. “It’s too dangerous for us to go back to the shrine, even if we were to have Johnny. Last time they wounded his third eye and he only did more damage by continuing to use it while it was injured last time.”</p><p>“We could protect him better now that we know what they would do.”</p><p>Yukhei shot you down this time, “We can’t risk attracting the great evil to us, not yet.”</p><p>“I thought it was locked away beneath the shrine or whatever.”</p><p>“It’s—”</p><p>Sicheng cut him off authoritatively, “I’ll call the others, we should really be discussing this with everyone.”</p><hr/><p>It took an agonizing twenty minutes for Johnny, Renjun, Yuta, and Jeno to all show up. Ten was patched up, but Yuta still took it upon himself to heal the Jorogumo’s wound, despite Taeyong’s protests of him not being worth Yuta suffering. The Kitsune scolded the Nekomata, making the younger Ayakashi’s ears press back against his head guiltily as he mumbled an apology to Ten.</p><p>With everyone now settled in the living room of Mrs. Lee’s house, a makeshift protective charm set up by you and Mark around the home, and the owner herself out on errands—<em>Mark, I didn’t realize you were going to have this many friends over, I have to get more snacks</em>—you relayed your disastrous attempt at surveillance of the mountain to the newcomers, catching them up to speed on your current dilemma.</p><p>“So the great evil isn’t locked up anymore, then?” Renjun questioned.</p><p>“We cannot be sure,” Jungwoo admitted. “Since they could not get close at all to the shrine, we can neither confirm nor deny the role that the evil plays at this point in time other than a magnet for the Wraiths.”</p><p>“So all we can do is <em>speculate</em>?” You groaned from your seat beside Jaehyun, dropping your forehead to his shoulder in displeasure.</p><p>Jaehyun flipped a page in the book that he was skimming before gently patting your head in sympathy. He opted to keep looking through the books while the others of you who “actually knew what the fuck was happening” talked.</p><p>“Come on Y/N, like you said earlier, what do Wraiths do when nobody’s controlling them?” Mark tried to encourage you.</p><p>“How should I know? Other than Jae, I’m the one who’s been around supernatural stuff the least, I have the <em>least</em> experience with this kind of shit.”</p><p>“I didn’t mean—”</p><p>“They’re not normal Wraiths anymore,” Johnny cut into Mark’s defensive apologies.</p><p>Renjun snorted, “No shit, they’re <em>supercharged</em>.”</p><p>“Yeah, so they’re not going to behave like normal Wraiths would. They’re capable of much more complex thought now.”</p><p>“Great,” Yuta grumbled. “So we can’t even use anything we know about them to predict what the hell they’re going to do.”</p><p>“I could—” the Domeki swallowed, looking down at his hands, then up at the group. His third eye had emerged on his head, two more just like it on the palms of his hands, “I could try to see them now. They’re more sentient, but also less contained, I may be able to see them.”</p><p>The Kitsune touched a hand to Johnny’s shoulder, worry flashing across his features, “Johnny, they’re still tired from your injuries from the other night. You shouldn’t.”</p><p>“But I can try.”</p><p>Surprisingly, Renjun shook his head against the idea, “No way, old man. You’ve already been too tired to cook and we’re nearly bankrupt. You keep this up we’ll have to close the café for good and be homeless.”</p><p>“Renjun,” Johnny took a deep breath, shooting the young Satori a serene smile. “Thank you for caring.”</p><p>Before anybody else could try to convince him otherwise, he had closed his two brown eyes and all the others opened wide. All of his tattoos emerged, a chilling backdrop for the more realistic eyes, the ones whose irises glowed and burned and swirled with millions of colors. He had been sitting in a corner of the couch, now as still as a statue as Renjun approached him and placed a hand on the back of his neck—his <em>bare</em> neck—where your matching bond marks were.</p><p>“The Wraiths are so powerful…” The Satori announced, seemingly translating for whatever Johnny was seeing. “They’re at the shrine. The altar in the back, there’s a crack in it. Something’s trying to reach up out of it, its latching onto the power of the Wraiths to pull itself out. It wants to—oh <em>God</em>, it wants to kill Y/N.”</p><p>The final statement was barely out of Renjun’s mouth when Johnny’s eyes all closed at once, and he shuddered and fell forward. Renjun caught him, easing him back against the couch as his Domeki eyes faded away and his normal pair fluttered open once more.</p><p>You were suddenly sitting straight up as Jaehyun’s book made a <em>thunk</em> sound as it hit the floor of the living room, and Taeyong whimpered in worry from your other side. Your boyfriend rubbed a hand up and down your back, shaking his head in disbelief as he held your hand in his other one.</p><p>“Well it’s not going to,” he spat out, gripping your hand so tight you were afraid he might break it.</p><p>“Why would it go after Y/N specifically?” Yuta asked quietly, as if saying it too loud would make it true.</p><p>Renjun glared at Mark, his two different colored eyes making the look even more blood-curdling as he spat out, “Because its absorbing information and power from the Wraiths that absorbed it from <em>Mark</em>.”</p><p>Before the Onmyoji could attempt to move a single muscle to defend himself or otherwise, he was thrown back against a wall by a blast of air from Jeno’s wings and held there by chains of water, his kitchen faucet now gushing at full blast at Sicheng’s whim. Ten stood as if he was going to defend his Onmyoji, but backed down at the low growl from Yuta and hiss from Taeyong. Jungwoo looked almost pained as he brought out the thin flute from his sleeve. Mark seemed more afraid of that than the broadswords that had appeared in Yukhei’s hands.</p><p>“Mark, you…” you trailed off, unable to finish that thought through the lump in your throat and hot tears that pricked at your eyes. Sure, you two hadn’t been on the best of terms in the past few days, but you had always considered Mark one of your friends, even throughout all of this shit, you had thought that you’d come out on the other side better for it. Betrayed, that’s what you were feeling.</p><p>If it weren’t for you tightening your hold on Jaehyun’s hand, you were sure that your boyfriend would’ve knocked out several of Mark’s teeth by now. But you wanted him here next to you, to make you feel safe and okay.</p><p>“No, Y/N, I—” Mark was cut off by water being stuffed down his throat, his words coming out gargled instead.</p><p>After a few more moments of Sicheng possibly drowning Mark, Ten cautiously spoke up, sounding exasperated but non-threatening, “Alright, that’s enough.”</p><p>The Mizuchi dragon didn’t let up, and you pushed aside your own betrayal to be rational, “Sicheng. We’re in his mother’s home.”</p><p>Not seeming very happy about it, Sicheng relented, ripping the water back out of his airways. Mark coughed harshly then gulped in air desperately before going to explain himself again, “<em>I</em> don’t want you dead, I <em>promise</em>. The Wraiths, they take your most wicked thoughts, your darkest wants that you would never even <em>dream</em> of acting on and amplify them. They knew I was jealous of you, how powerful of an Onmyoji you are, that you have all five of your True Ayakashi, that Master Jungwoo likes you better than me, and they took that and twisted it and made it to be their sole objective. I’m sorry. It’s my fault. I was stupid and blinded by jealousy and let them feed off of me and my own insecurities and now you’re their target. I’m so sorry.”</p><p>Sicheng seemed about ready to drown him again, and you knew that despite how utterly betrayed you were, how on the surface you honestly wanted to let your Ayakashi friends rip him to shreds in that moment, you had to unfortunately be the bigger person. Mark Lee didn’t deserve to die, not because of you, not by your friends’ hands, and especially not here, in his own mother’s house, the house that she lived in alone after her husband’s passing and her only son moved out.</p><p>“Promise me that if we survive this, you’ll fucking go to <em>therapy</em>, Mark,” you breathed out, voice cracking.</p><p>“Of course,” he nodded, tears welling up in his eyes.</p><p>You bit your lip and turned away, unable to watch as Sicheng released him unceremoniously, a grunt resounding as he fell to the floor. Jaehyun stood next to you, shoulder pressed against yours before you threw yourself into his chest, your own tears pouring down your face now that you felt safe and shielded from the prying eyes of the others. He wrapped his arms around you, cradling the back of your head as he rubbed a soothing hand up and down just the small of your back. He dropped gentle kisses to the crown of your head, murmuring sweet words of comfort against the shell of your ear, so quiet that only you could hear them. Your tears were those of relief, betrayal, and mourning for the friendship that you knew you’d just lost and could never replace or restore. Whatever relationship you had before this you could never have again. It would never be the same. You couldn’t watch him fail at kick flips on his penny board, you couldn’t train with Jungwoo at the shrine together, you couldn’t complain about Dr. Kwan to each other. Never again, not after all of this. Your new normal wouldn’t include those things. It just… <em>couldn’t</em>.</p><p>But before you could get there, you had to survive the great evil that wanted to kill you. Sniffling, you wiped harshly at the tears on your face as you brought it out of Jaehyun’s chest. You pulled yourself out of his arms to grab a tissue box from the table, blowing your nose and cleaning up your face to the best of your ability before chucking them in the garbage and returning to the living room.</p><p>You plopped back onto the couch, leaning your elbows on your knees and linking your hands together, looking over the others in the room with you, “So what are we going to do?”</p><p>After exchanging uneasy glances, Sicheng took the initiative to engage with you, “We can’t very well sneak up on them, they’ll sense a horde of Ayakashi and Onmyoji from miles away. Even <em>one</em> of us would be a giveaway.”</p><p>There was a heavy pause, and you weren’t sure if it was more-so the aftermath of what had just happened, or from Sicheng’s statement.</p><p>“What about me?” Jaehyun spoke up, making everyone’s eyes snap over to him in shock. “I’m not Ayakashi or Onmyoji. Would they be able to… sense me?”</p><p>“No, they <em>wouldn’t</em>. We can use him, Y/N.”</p><p>“What?” You blurted out incredulously. “No, Sicheng, he’s not some… <em>whatever</em> for us to just <em>use</em>, he’s my <em>boyfriend</em>. No, no way.”</p><p>Jeno snorted, “So if it was some other human you’d be fine with it?”</p><p>“Take a nap, featherbrain!” You hissed at the Tengu sharply, blood beginning to boil at the fact that everybody seemed fine with this suggestion.</p><p>“Y/N, I said that I wanted to help, and I meant it,” Jaehyun reminded you sincerely.</p><p>“Jae, there’s a difference between helping by reading a few books and helping by <em>going on a suicide mission completely unaided against a literal army of superpowered Wraiths</em>.”</p><p>“You are so… human,” Jungwoo mumbled almost to himself as he studied Jaehyun closely.</p><p>“Uh, thanks. I guess,” Jaehyun eyed the Tsukumo-gami strangely.</p><p>You crossed your arms, “I already said, no <em>fucking</em> way.”</p><p>Jungwoo’s eyes suddenly sharply focused on you, “Lady Onmyoji, he is <em>so </em>human.”</p><p>“I know, you just—”</p><p>“No, I mean that he is so… <em>not</em> supernatural that the Wraiths may be powerless against him.”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>Your mentor brought out his flute that had been stored away after the dissolvement of the conflict with Mark, “If I may.”</p><p>“No, you may <em>not</em>.”</p><p>You knew what that flute did, Mark had told you before in a hushed tone during one of your lunch breaks at the shrine. It hurt things—<em>killed</em> them if they were to listen for long enough.</p><p>Nevertheless, Jungwoo still brought the flute to his lips, and you instinctually covered your ears with your hands, as did all of your supernatural friends. You yelled at Jaehyun to as well, but Yukhei murmured something to him, and your boyfriend’s hands remained in his lap. As Jungwoo began playing, you pleaded again for Jaehyun to cover his ears. He didn’t. You heartbreakingly anticipated him to start writhing around in pain, or to immediately die—you weren’t sure if the flute affected humans differently than supernatural creatures—and were quite ready to release your own ears to attack Jungwoo yourself. But amazingly, Jaehyun was still sitting up, exactly as he had been before. You felt your jaw drop as you watched him sit there, looking around at you all curiously.</p><p>Jungwoo brought his flute back down from his lips, and you dropped your hands as well, staring at Jaehyun in disbelief.</p><p>“You—are you okay, Jae?” You took his face in your hands in disbelief.</p><p>“Yeah, of course. Why wouldn’t I be?” He asked curiously, looking around at all of you. “Why’d you all cover your ears? Jungwoo’s a nice flute player.”</p><p>“Jaehyun, nobody has ever <em>heard</em> Master Jungwoo’s flute and lived,” Mark breathed out shakily.</p><p>“Or not been in excruciating pain seconds before dying,” Ten added.</p><p>Jaehyun looked down at his arms and body as if he were checking himself over for signs of being dead.</p><p>“I was correct. You are so extraordinarily human that supernatural things do not affect you. I am confident that the Wraiths will not be able to touch you,” Jungwoo declared, tucking his flute back away once more.</p><p>“So that was like a test? And I passed, right? I can do whatever you guys need me to with the Wraiths now.”</p><p>“Dude, I <em>cannot</em> believe that you’re so absolutely boring and lame and normal that supernatural stuff just goes right through you like you don’t even matter,” Renjun commented humorously.</p><p>“Renjun,” Johnny half-heartedly chastised him, finally recovered enough from the seeing he had done earlier.</p><p>You still weren’t on board, “Okay so any <em>supernatural</em> attacks from the Wraiths won’t work, but they can still like, throw trees at him and shit like that.”</p><p>“I can dodge them,” Jaehyun reassured you confidently.</p><p>“We still don’t know what to do to stop them. Even if you can get in there, we don’t have anything for you to <em>do</em> in there.”</p><p>“The great evil is latching onto the Wraiths to actualize itself,” Jungwoo thought aloud. “If we can get rid of the Wraiths, my brother and I will be able to fix the seal once more.”</p><p>“I am <em>not</em>—” you couldn’t even finish your sentence, feeling almost nauseous as you caught a whiff of petrichor once more.</p><p>“I understand, Lady Onmyoji.”</p><p>“What if we make them visible again?” Mark spoke up timidly. “Then we can banish them normally instead.”</p><p>“How the <em>hell</em> do you suggest we do that?” Renjun spat at him.</p><p>The Onmyoji ran out, the sounds of his feet disappearing for a moment before they grew in volume once more. His hands held a book and a familiar shaped piece of paper, eyes wide with enthusiasm, “Talismans!”</p><p>“Jaehyun can’t <em>use</em> talismans,” Jeno scoffed at the suggestion.</p><p>“No, I know, but—” he flipped through the pages of the book before landing on the one that he presumably wanted. “I read about this earlier but didn’t think it was important. Powerful Onmyoji can leave their power in an object for a limited amount of time and that object can then be used by anybody. Y/N can leave a charm in some talismans that will turn the Wraiths visible and Jaehyun can use them.”</p><p>“Wouldn’t they be able to sense my power in the talismans, though?” You responded worriedly. “That would just attract them to Jae instead.”</p><p>Sicheng said, “It would have to be a one-time charm, something that exposed all of the Wraiths at once for us to fight.”</p><p>“But that would leave him in the middle of a bunch of very pissed Wraiths with all of us at the bottom of the mountains, miles away.”</p><p>“I could fly you in quick, drop you in right where he is in just a couple minutes,” Jeno offered up, eyes locking on your boyfriend. “Think you could survive long enough for her to come save you?”</p><p>“Yeah,” he nodded resolutely.</p><p>“Jae, you’ve never fought these things before, you don’t know what they can do.”</p><p>“They can’t touch me. If all they can do it throw things at me, I’ll manage until you get there,” Jaehyun put a hand on your knee and squeezed it. “I believe that you’ll come save me, Y/N.”</p><p>“I’m not even that adept at using talismans, I’ve never tried having long-distance radial effects from them.”</p><p>“I know it’s hard for you to trust me right now, Y/N,” Mark spoke up again. “But I’ve mastered the use of talismans, I can show you how.”</p><p>You chewed on the inside of your cheek in thought for just a moment, “Okay, please.”</p><hr/><p>The night before you were to be executing your plan that had too many things that could go wrong, you were taking a short respite at the Jungs’ house. A chance for Jaehyun to say goodbye to his parents one last time, just in case, he had joked. You didn’t find it funny at all.</p><p>Mrs. Jung had apparently been feeling nostalgic that night, as after dinner, she brought out various family photo albums. Her husband quickly explained why as you opened up the first one and were greeted by a black and white photo of a toddler in outdated clothes.</p><p>“A year ago, my father passed,” he said. “These were all his albums.”</p><p>“I’m sorry for your loss,” you replied quietly, squeezing Jaehyun’s hand.</p><p>Jaehyun rested his head against your shoulder as his eyes took in the photos spread across your lap. He reached forward to turn the page to reveal photos of his grandfather as a young man, probably around your boyfriend’s age.</p><p>“Wow, you look just like him, Jae,” you commented, staring at the pictures of his grandfather in awe. The likeliness was uncanny, they could have been twins if they weren’t a generation apart. The same dimples, same nose, same eyes. It was remarkable.</p><p>Flipping to the next page of the album, you choked on your own throat as you actually recognized someone in the picture. And not Jaehyun’s grandfather, but the man who had an arm around his shoulders. <em>Johnny</em>. He looked slightly younger; if he looked about thirty now, he looked to be in his late teens or early twenties in the picture. They seemed to be at some kind of festival or fair, Jaehyun’s grandpa holding a waffle cone with three scoops, and a large Ferris wheel in the background. They were smiling broadly, laughing at something. It was a perfect snapshot, a moment of time frozen for eternity.</p><p>Jaehyun had recognized it as well, and called out to his dad. When Mr. Jung looked up from his own photo album to his son attentively, your boyfriend turned the book around to face him and tapped the picture.</p><p>“Who’s that with Grandpa?”</p><p>Mr. Jung squinted as he looked at the picture, then shrugged, “Don’t know. Look at the back and see if he wrote anything down.”</p><p>You eagerly took the picture out, turning it over to look at the back. And sure enough, there was something written there.</p><p>
  <em>Me and Youngho, young love at a summer festival, 19</em>
</p><p>As far as you could remember, Johnny had never been called or gone by Youngho around you, but looking at the picture once more it was undeniable that it was your Domeki friend.</p><p>“Dad, could I keep this photo?” Jaehyun requested, earning an inquisitively raised eyebrow from his father and tilted head from his mother.</p><p>“Sure, Jaehyun,” he nodded. “Why, though?”</p><p>“I like how Grandpa looks,” your boyfriend fibbed. “Young, happy, having fun with his friend. It’s a nice way to remember him.”</p><p>“That’s lovely, Nini,” his mother commented, reaching over from her perch on the arm of the chair that her husband was sat in to pat her son’s cheek affectionately.</p><hr/><p>Leaving the Jungs’ house later that night, hand-in-hand with your boyfriend, you had another destination in mind before you were to head back to your apartment to rest up before the busy day you had planned tomorrow.</p><p>“Thank you for taking the photo for Johnny,” you squeezed Jaehyun’s hand tightly.</p><p>Jaehyun nodded, “I think it’ll mean a lot more for him to have it than for it to sit in our dusty photo albums.”</p><p>“Me too.”</p><p>“And I know you would have stolen it if I hadn’t asked for it nicely.”</p><p>“Like you said, Johnny deserves it more.”</p><hr/><p>Outside the front door of Lenticular, you saw the sign that Johnny had put up of their “closure for vacation” as you tried the door. Locked. Jaehyun knocked firmly, and you hoped that Johnny wasn’t asleep yet.</p><p>He must have still been awake, as the sound of the door unlocking came before it was swung open by the tall figure of your Domeki friend. Upon seeing who it was that had been knocking, Johnny eagerly let you two in with a smile.</p><p>“Hey, little lady, little lady’s boyfriend, how are you guys?”</p><p>“Pretty good, Johnny,” you returned the easy smile, practically giddy at what you were about to do.</p><p>“So what bring you to my humble abode? It’s a little late for date night but I can whip something up for you guys real quick.”</p><p>“We’re not here to make you cook for us, Johnny,” you shook your head, holding the picture out towards him. “Here. We were over at Jae’s house looking through photo albums and found this. I think you’ll appreciate it a lot more than us.”</p><p>With curiosity, he accepted the photograph and looked it over, immediately breaking into a wistful smile. He held it in one hand and gently stroked the photo with a single finger from the other.</p><p>Johnny looked up from the photo to Jaehyun, hand lifting as if it were going to stroke his face like the picture, but the cook dropped it back down, “That’s why I recognized you. You’re Gayong’s grandson. <em>Of course</em>, you’re the spitting image of him.”</p><p>“Thank you,” Jaehyun mumbled, seemingly unsure of what to say.</p><p>You reached out to flip the photo over in Johnny’s hands, “And uhm… Youngho?”</p><p>The Domeki read over the writing on the back, bittersweet tears welling up in his eyes. He mouthed the words to himself, lips forming over the syllables as a tear finally spilled over and down his cheek, followed by more and more.</p><p>“That’s my birthname, I change it every human generation or so,” he answered your obvious question almost absentmindedly.</p><p>Jaehyun spoke up, “So you and my grandpa were… together?”</p><p>“Didn’t know I swing both ways, huh?” Johnny managed to joke. “Didn’t know he swings both ways either, I suppose.”</p><p>“He didn’t scream it from the mountaintops. Didn’t hide it either. He was just… Grandpa.”</p><p>“Swung,” the Domeki corrected himself, almost as an afterthought, as if he didn’t really listen to what your boyfriend had just said. “Did he still tell that stupid joke, about the steam train?”</p><p>“Yeah,” Jaehyun confirmed with a slight chuckle, “He did. All the time.”</p><p>“It’s been a year.”</p><p>“To the day.”</p><p>“A year since the restaurant opened, too.”</p><p>“Why did you and my grandpa… break up?”</p><p>Johnny tore his gaze from the picture once more to look into the other man’s eyes, letting out a deep sigh, “I wish it was an easy answer, Jaehyun. I wish it was something like we had simply drifted apart, that it didn’t hurt for the two of us. But it wasn’t. He wanted to get married, and have a kid, and open a restaurant, and grow old together. But <em>I</em> couldn’t do that last one. I knew he was going to catch onto the fact that he was aging while I wasn’t. So I left. I disappeared, took everything that proved I had existed to him—or, I thought I’d gotten everything—and dumped it and ran. Went to another continent for a while. I only came back when Jungwoo sent me a note telling me that Gayong was sick; I guess he was hoping that I would visit him—a final vision on his deathbed. I came and I stood right outside the hospital, but I couldn’t go in. I walked until I ended up on Bell Street, at this empty storefront for rent and put down a deposit right then and there. Made preparations to open. It just so happened to be on the same day that he… passed. I loved him, Jaehyun, I still do.”</p><p>“If you really loved him so much, why didn’t you stay with him? Tell him who you were? I’m sure he would’ve understood,” Jaehyun argued back bitterly, cheeks flushing with anger.</p><p>“I know. I just couldn’t do that to him. Burden him with that knowledge.”</p><p>“But—”</p><p>“Jae,” you cut him off, finally inserting yourself into the conversation again. “If Johnny hadn’t broken up with your grandpa, then your grandpa wouldn’t have found your grandma, and they wouldn’t have had your dad, and your dad wouldn’t have had you, and I’d probably be stuck dating some random loser instead of you.”</p><p>“Oh,” he deadpanned, reaching an arm around your shoulders and kissing your forehead. “Good point.”</p><p>Johnny looked between the two of you with glistening eyes, a bittersweet expression coming to his features as he tucked the picture away in his pocket. After a beat, he joked, “If it makes you feel better, you can still call me Grandpappy.”</p><p>“I’m good with just calling you Johnny,” Jaehyun snorted as you giggled.</p><p>“Alright, your loss.”</p><p>Before any of you could say anything else, a harsh voice cut in from the back of the café, “What the <em>hell</em> are you three giggling about down here? We have our big stupid plan to execute in less than ten hours. Unless you <em>want</em> to be sleep-deprived and die.”</p><p>It was Renjun, standing at the bottom of the stairs in his pajamas, rubbing his eyes before glaring at each of you individually.</p><p>“Are those Moomin pajama pants?” You asked with a snicker.</p><p>He simply turned on his heel and started back up the stairs.</p><p>“I’m sorry- Renjun! They’re cute! Come on, I’m s—” You broke down into giggles again, giving up on placating your friend.</p><p>“He’s right, we should all be getting plenty of rest tonight,” Johnny proclaimed, beginning to herd you and Jaehyun back towards the front door.</p><p>“I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep much,” you admitted, worry descending upon you once more when you thought about what Jaehyun was going to have to do tomorrow.</p><p>“I’ll make you some chamomile tea,” Jaehyun promised, squeezing your hand.</p><p>“See you tomorrow,” the chef bid you two goodnight before you headed back out onto the streets together.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. [six]</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Your predictions were right: you couldn’t sleep that night. And the few times that you had been able to drift off, you would wake up less than a half hour later, frantic eyes immediately finding Jaehyun’s sleeping figure and worried hands moving to touch and hold any part of him that you could get, as if they didn’t trust your eyes.</p><p>At four in the morning you finally gave up the premise of trying to sleep and instead sat up against your pillows, watching as Jaehyun’s chest steadily rose and fell, eyes closed peacefully, and of course a little drop of drool at the corner of his mouth. You had a single hand resting on his hair, not wanting to wake him up. He deserved some sleep.</p><p>“You really don’t want him to do this, do you?” A hushed voice asked you from the darkness, and you didn’t even glance at Taeyong as he sat on the corner of the foot of the bed in his cat form.</p><p>“You should sleep, Yong,” you replied quietly.</p><p>“It’s hard to when you keep tossing and turning. It makes me worried too,” he admitted, padding over to sit closer to you. “I’m amazed that he’s still asleep.”</p><p>“Yeah, he sleeps like a rock,” you murmured, and against your want to not disturb his sleep, you absentmindedly brushed some of his hair out of his face.</p><p>“I could go with him,” Taeyong offered suddenly. “To the shrine. It’s harder to sense that I’m an Ayakashi when I’m in my cat form. When he activates the talisman I’ll be there to help protect him before you get there.”</p><p>You shook your head, “It’s harder but not impossible. Anything that doesn’t feel like a Wraith, or like nothing, will alert them.”</p><p>Taeyong gently pressed against your side, soft fur brushing at your skin, “I’m sorry, Y/N.”</p><hr/><p>Jaehyun woke up a couple hours later, pulling himself up into a sitting position beside you as he looked around the bedroom, “Where’s Taeyong?”</p><p>“Kitchen.”</p><p>“Great,” a sleepy smile spread across his face as he leaned his face closer to yours. “Now I can give you a good morning kiss without having to hear throwing up sounds.”</p><p>You let out a short laugh before his mouth sealed over yours. Threading your fingers through his bedhead, you didn’t even mind when your noses awkwardly bumped as he readjusted to pull you closer to him. For just a moment, you forgot about what was going to happen today.</p><p>He finally pulled back to ask, “What time is it?”</p><p>“Ten till eight,” you informed him quietly.</p><p>“So I’ve got time for a shower, great,” he pulled back from you and swung his legs over the edge of the bed.</p><p>Before he could plant his feet and get up, you suddenly lunged forward, wrapping a hand around his bicep. He halted to look back at you inquisitively, “What, love?”</p><p>All your anxieties had come flooding back. Despite having been wide awake for almost four hours, you didn’t dare leave your bed in that time. As if as soon as you did, you’d have to say goodbye to Jaehyun forever.</p><p>But you couldn’t properly articulate that to him, so instead you blurted out, “I love you, Jaehyun.”</p><p>His worried features relaxed into adoration as he chuckled, pecking your forehead, “I love you too, Y/N.”</p><p>Jaehyun finally stood up, stretching and groaning for a moment before straightening up, “Are you coming with?”</p><p>“No, I’m good,” you shook your head. “I’ll start making breakfast.”</p><p>As he disappeared into your bathroom, you treaded out to the living room, where Taeyong was sitting on the couch, in his true form, ears twitching as he chewed on something. As you got closer, you saw a bowl of Goldfish in front of him, but you didn’t have enough space left in your brain to remind him that Goldfish aren’t breakfast food.</p><p>“You look really tired, Y/N,” Taeyong informed you quietly as you plopped down beside him. He traced a delicate finger under each of your eyes, where you assumed you had very prominent dark circles.</p><p>“I don’t know how he can just be so nonchalant about this,” you sighed out, voice weak. “He’s going to walk into a Wraith-infested forest and shrine that a great evil is trying to escape into, entirely by himself, to do something that will piss them off and immediately make him a target, with the rest of us miles away. Doesn’t he understand how fucking dangerous that is? Doesn’t he understand he could— he could d—”</p><p>You couldn’t even finish your sentence, getting too choked up at the prospect of it. Taeyong wrapped him arms around you, hands shaking as they messily wiped at your tears, “I think he does, Y/N. But maybe he’s just not showing it because he doesn’t want you to worry too much.”</p><p>“Jokes on him, I am anyway,” you mumbled sarcastically from where Taeyong had uncomfortably smushed your face against his shirt.</p><p>Taeyong didn’t seem to have anything to say back to you, chest heaving and deflating with a deep breath as he continued holding you.</p><hr/><p>Standing at the base of the mountain later that morning, you rocked from your heels to the balls of your feet anxiously, fingers fiddling with hem of your shirt. Your Ayakashi friends were all gathered there with you, in their true forms, the majesty of which you couldn’t even admire because your thoughts were too clouded with worry.</p><p>Jaehyun was dressed up in hiking gear, complete with an (empty) hiking pack. Unsure of how aware and sentient the Wraiths were, you decided to play it safe and have Jaehyun pretend to be a hiker who simply wandered up the mountain and into the shrine, to keep them from realizing who he was for as long as possible.</p><p>“Everyone remembers the plan, right?” Sicheng addressed your rather large group, quieting them down instantly.</p><p>“We wait until the Wraiths are visible and keep them at bay for Y/N and Mark to banish them,” Yuta called out from beside Taeyong.</p><p>“I’ll be down here and banish as I make my way up the mountain,” Mark added.</p><p>You didn’t even try to feign enthusiasm as you stated blandly, “Jeno will drop me in at the shrine and I’ll banish from there and make my way down.”</p><p>“Once my brother and I reach the shrine, we will fix the seal over the great evil,” Jungwoo finished the timeline.</p><p>“Jaehyun?” Sicheng prompted him. “You’ve got the most important part.”</p><p>“I go to the altar at the back and activate the talisman then stay alive long enough for Y/N to come save me.”</p><p>Your grip on his hand tightened just a little bit with apprehension. He squeezed your hand back.</p><p>“I still think Y/N should have more than one Ayakashi up there,” Johnny spoke up.</p><p>“Me too,” Sicheng sighed. “But Jeno can only carry one person up there, and we can’t risk sending anyone up with Jaehyun.”</p><p>“Could you carry a person and a cat?” Taeyong asked, voice surprisingly level and gaze unwavering as he looked directly at Jeno.</p><p>Jeno seemed slightly affronted at this, “Of course.”</p><p>“Then I’ll go too.”</p><p>Yuta’s fox ears twitched for a moment, “A fox too?”</p><p>“Where am I going to put all of you? I can hold Y/N, but I don’t know if we’re going to have room for <em>both</em> of you, even as animals. She still has to hold onto me. The cat will be pushing it logistics-wise.”</p><p>“I’ll be okay, Yuta,” Taeyong quietly reassured him, pushing his head against the Kitsune’s shoulder.</p><p>You turned to Jaehyun. The talisman was still in your back pocket, and the charm had been put into it back at the café where you’d all met up, but you still hadn’t given it to him. It was the final thing you had to do before you saw him off for what could easily be to his doom. Just like getting out of bed this morning, you didn’t want to do this, feeling like you were wobbling on a precipice and this would be thing that finally pitched you over to the other side.</p><p>Throwing your arms around his neck, you hugged him tightly, uncaring of the others around you or even if you were crushing his esophagus against your shoulder. You buried your face in his neck, breathing in deeply, to fill your nostrils with his scent, and in an effort to keep any tears at bay. Crying wouldn’t do anything for you now.</p><p>He squeezed you back just as tight, rubbing a hand up and down your back for a moment, “Hey, don’t act like I’m about to die. You’re gonna save me, I believe that. I’ll save you, then you’ll save me.”</p><p>“Sorry,” you muttered, still not letting go of him.</p><p>“Hey,” he murmured quietly, pulling back just enough to look you in the eye. “Do you really think I shouldn’t do this?”</p><p>Your bottom lip quivered, and you bit it to keep it still, trapped between your teeth, “I don’t want you to— I don’t want to lose you, Jung Jaehyun, or for you to get hurt. I’m worried.”</p><p>“But you’re not telling me not to do this.”</p><p>“You’ve made up your mind, I know I can’t stop you.”</p><p>“Well, you probably <em>could</em> with your magical powers,” he retorted humorously, dimples appearing for a brief moment.</p><p>“Don’t give me any ideas.”</p><p>Jaehyun kissed you, brief but filled with ardor, before pressing an even longer kiss to your forehead, “See you soon, Y/L/N Y/N.”</p><p>“Yeah,” you murmured back through the lump in your throat. “See you.”</p><p>“I love you.”</p><p>“I love you, too.”</p><p>He finally let go of you completely, and you reached into your back pocket, bringing out the charmed talisman. You solemnly handed it to him, trying not to imagine that you were handing him a one-way ticket to his death.</p><p>Your boyfriend accepted it before taking a few steps back to wave to the group as a whole, “And I’m out!”</p><p>As he stepped forward towards what you knew to be Wraith-infested territory, you held your breath. He continued further down the trail, seemingly okay as he loudly called out observations like some tourist hiking—which made Renjun snort and Johnny chuckle—until he was out of your sight. Out of your protection.</p><p>“At least your boyfriend’s got a sense of humor about the whole thing,” Renjun said as he came to stand beside you, still a polite distance between the two of you. He spun his gun around his pointer finger lackadaisically as he also looked out at the forest with you.</p><p>“He’ll be okay, Y/N,” Sicheng went to reassure you, putting a single hand on your shoulder.</p><p>Johnny suddenly appeared in front of you, poking between your brows and at the tense corners of your mouth with inked hands, “Your face is going to get stuck like that, little lady.”</p><p>You shook their hands off, unable to even try to make yourself relax. The Domeki let out a short sigh but seemed to get the hint and backed away from you. Sicheng’s hand fell from your shoulder, and you continued staring at the forest, chewing on your bottom lip.</p><p>Fifteen minutes of silence later and you were about ready to demand that Jeno fly you up there right then. Sure, Jaehyun had never been to the shrine intentionally, so he only had a crude map on a piece of paper that Jungwoo had drawn up from him, and wasn’t as familiar with the terrain as you, and it usually took <em>you</em> twenty minutes to get to the shrine, but you still couldn’t help but assume the worst—which got even worse with each passing second.</p><p>Images of Jaehyun being ripped apart, laying on the ground bleeding out, in various stages of decay flashed across your mind, and you squeezed your eyes shut against them. He’d be okay, that’s what he told you. And you had to believe him.</p><p>You couldn’t even text him if you really wanted to, the Wraiths blocking your cell phone signals. Those of you who were lying in wait were still some distance away from the mountain, but you couldn’t get any closer without risking the Wraiths taking notice of you.</p><p>“Johnny, can you see him?”</p><p>“Y/N, <em>we</em> wouldn’t be at the shrine yet, even if we were <em>running</em>,” Johnny pointed out to you.</p><p>“Did I <em>say</em> that he was there yet? No, I asked if you could see him,” you snapped at the Domeki.</p><p>Before he could respond, Jungwoo’s voice was beside your ear, “Lady Onmyoji, I understand your worries, but—”</p><p>“No you don’t, Jungwoo.”</p><p>He sighed, voice lowering as he practically whispered to you, “I have been alive for over a thousand years, do you think that I have not felt anxiety and loss?”</p><p>You chewed on your bottom lip again, mumbling out something akin to ‘sorry’ as you continued to stare out at the trees.</p><p>“I understand that you are upset at us all, and especially I, for even suggesting that he do this. But you have to understand that we are all—including Jaehyun—worried about you. We do not want you to perish. Are we really so horrible for that?”</p><p>You inhaled sharply. Of course you knew that they were all doing this for you, that the reason Jaehyun was even going along with this was because these Wraiths wanted to kill you. And <em>of course</em> you didn’t want to die either, you just wished they could be dealt with in a way that didn’t leave so much to chance and hope and assumptions and didn’t endanger Jaehyun. You didn’t know what you would do with yourself if something happened, what you’d tell his family—oh god, his <em>family</em>, his <em>parents</em>. Nausea gripped at your stomach at the thought, and you clenched your jaw against it.</p><p>You’d been staring at the trees for so long that the shadows between them started melding together, become inky and dark. But when glowing red orbs appeared, you rubbed at your eyes. Wraiths. The Wraiths were visible.</p><p>Immediately you rushed to where Jeno was, Taeyong bounding after you in his cat form. You picked him up before wrapping an arm around the Tengu’s neck.</p><p>“Fly fast, featherbrain.”</p><p>Jeno’s wings spread out wide, flapping once to immediately shoot the three of you up into the air. You clung onto his neck with one arm, the other holding Taeyong close to your chest. Dropping him right now would not be optimal. You looked down at your friends that you were leaving behind, already fighting their way through the hoard of Wraiths. Yukhei slashed at two at once, Renjun fired off round after round, Sicheng kept a group barred in by walls of water for Johnny and Yuta to attack, and Ten and Jungwoo worked in tandem to keep more at bay for Mark to begin banishing them.</p><p>But they were soon out of your sight as Jeno continued flying. The trees below you blurred together, the wind whipping by stung at your skin, eyes watering quickly.</p><p>“Shit, sorry,” Jeno muttered, and suddenly there was no wind around your eyes. It was as if you’d put on a pair of glasses, the wind hitting everywhere except there. “Haven’t flown anybody else in a while.”</p><p>Your reply was interrupted by several Wraiths coming up from below you, and in an instant, you had banished them.</p><p>“Behind you, Y/N!” Taeyong squeaked, and you looked back at those, banishing them just as quickly.</p><p>Jeno suddenly pitched downwards, and a string of expletives left your mouth as you looked up. Another Wraith. That one was taken care of instantaneously. More and more joined you in the skies the higher up the mountain that you went, and your head was on a constant pivot to find and banish them as fast as you could. The Tengu still had to dodge a considerable amount, and Taeyong couldn’t do much in his cat form, but it was the best that the three of you could do at the moment.</p><p>“T-minus thirty seconds to landing,” Jeno informed you, and you took a split second to look ahead of you. The charm you had put on the talisman would’ve taken down the cloaking charm on the shrine too, and you spotted the gray stone structure from above easily.</p><p>“He should be by the altar at the back,” you reminded him.</p><p>“I know,” he grumbled in return.</p><p>The feeling of Wraiths was overtaken by something more, something darker, something even bigger. The great evil was getting even closer to its goal of escaping. As you flew over the shrine, you were able to see the back clearing, just in time to spot Jaehyun narrowly avoid a tree being thrown his way, running into the shrine.</p><p>“Let me down!” You squirmed in Jeno’s hold, panicking as you couldn’t see your human boyfriend anymore.</p><p>“We’re still sixty feet above the ground,” he retorted, but nevertheless, hastened your descent.</p><p>The closer you got to the ground, the more you fidgeted, until Jeno eventually gave up on trying to restrain you. Maybe a bit too soon, as you stumbled and fell forwards, twisting yourself at the last second as to not crush Taeyong, who was still in your hold. You landed half on your back and half on your shoulder, letting out a grunt. Taeyong leapt out of your arms, turning into his true form to help you up, “Y/N! Are you okay?”</p><p>“Yuta’s not here to heal you if you do anything stupid,” Jeno warned you, flicking one of his wings out to push a Wraith back.</p><p>“I know, I know,” you scrambled to your feet, brushing the Nekomata’s worried hands off of you.</p><p>“Taeyong and I will control the situation out here, you go find Jaehyun.”</p><p>You gave him a short nod of thanks before taking off towards the shrine, banishing any Wraiths in your field of vision. The great evil’s energy suddenly spiked, and you knew it had sensed you. Unfortunately, you couldn’t sense Jaehyun, so you instead yelled out his name loudly as you cleared each room. You didn’t even worry about the yelling drawing the Wraiths to you, your presence alone would be enough to do that. You actually sort of hoped that they’d be drawn to you and leave Jaehyun alone instead.</p><p>“Y/N!” His voice carried through the building, bouncing off wall after wall.</p><p>“Jae!” You yelled out again, speeding your way through hallways, haphazardly banishing willy-nilly.</p><p>“Y/N!” His voice was getting closer, and you took one more sharp turn before ending up in one of the large rooms that typically would house one of the Tsukumo-gami who resided there. Yukhei’s room, you guessed, by the random mechanical parts strewn about.</p><p>Jaehyun ducked out of the way of a flying screwdriver, instead running straight <em>through</em> the Wraith that was in front of him towards you. Your eyes widened in shock, and you banished the Wraith as an afterthought.</p><p>“Y/N!” He repeated your name, this time in relief.</p><p>You put him behind you as you faced the doorway, banishing any Wraiths that you could see. That would only give you a couple seconds to check him over for injuries. A scrape here, a red splotch there, but overall, he looked no worse than he would have after a boxing competition.</p><p>“Are you okay?” He asked you, grabbing your hand.</p><p>“Yeah, fine. You?”</p><p>“Same, fine.”</p><p>“Come on, Taeyong and Jeno are out back,” you went to lead him back out of the bedroom, banishing the Wraiths that had accumulated once more.</p><p>There was one coming up behind you, and before you could turn around to react, you heard what sounded almost like the hissing of steam, and it wasn’t there anymore. Jaehyun’s fist was still up in front of him, almost a proper boxing stance if it weren’t for him holding your hand with his other one.</p><p>“Did you just… right hook a Wraith out of existence?”</p><p>“It looked like a person, but with red eyes. That was still a Wraith, right? I didn’t just punch Jungwoo and Yukhei’s secret brother, right?”</p><p>“Yeah, Jae, it was a Wraith. They must be realizing that they can’t touch you in their supernatural forms and are making human ones instead.”</p><p>Another one came swinging, in a human form again, but its fist simply went right through your human boyfriend. He looked down at the arm protruding from his sternum before punching straight up into the Wraith’s jaw. That same hissing sound came again, and the human turned back into black smoke as it was flung upwards. Not letting it get its bearings, you banished it.</p><p>“Jungwoo was right,” you breathed out. “Sort of.”</p><p>With that, you and Jaehyun finally left the shrine, returning to the back clearing where your two Ayakashi friends were. Jeno was up in the sky, duking it out with a handful of Wraiths that you dispelled as soon as you saw them. Taeyong’s ears perked up once he spotted you two, ducking out of the way of a Wraith before sprinting over to you. You banished the Wraiths, but it felt as though they just kept on coming.</p><p>“You’re both okay?” The Nekomata asked, ears and tails flicking nervously. Jeno descended to join the three of you as well.</p><p>“Fine,” you said flatly, letting go of Jaehyun’s hand to whip around when you sensed more Wraiths coming from behind you. You threw out a talisman from your back pocket, and it ricocheted off four or five Wraiths, banishing them upon contact. “There’s so many of them, and we don’t even know how far away the others are. I’ve probably banished a hundred just since Jae activated the charm. I don’t know how much more of this I can take. Mark’s probably not faring much better, he only has Ten.”</p><p>Taeyong and Jeno nodded in understanding. Mark wasn’t as powerful an Onmyoji as you, and only had one of his True Ayakashi. While he was more adept at using talismans—which didn’t require as much power as directly performing charms—there was no way he <em>wasn’t</em> exhausting his powers at this point. The Wraiths being supercharged made them just the tiniest bit harder to banish, and when coupled with how many of them there were, the depletion of your powers grew exponentially.</p><p>You’d continued sending talismans at Wraiths as you spoke, trying to ignore the tired feeling creeping throughout your body. The talismans weren’t as efficient a method, but they staved off the feeling of exhaustion for just a little bit longer.</p><p>“Is there anything else that will get rid of them?” Jaehyun asked, holding his arms up in preparation for any Wraiths in human forms that tried him. One did, but he dispensed of it with a solid punch to its left ear, the black smoke leaving through the opposite ear, pulling the rest of the human form up with it as it all turned to smoke, and you launched a talisman at it.</p><p>“He can <em>punch</em> Wraiths back into their true forms?” Taeyong asked with wide eyes. “Are we <em>sure</em> he’s human?”</p><p>“Not now, Taeyong,” you retorted, sending another talisman out.</p><p>“I’ve been dissipating some, but they’re just coming back in minutes,” Jeno said as he casually threw an uprooted tree at a couple Wraiths, trapping them against another tree, causing them to disappear. “It’s nothing even <em>close</em> to permanent.”</p><p>Taeyong nodded in agreement as you threw a talisman over his shoulder, striking against just two Wraiths, banishing each one. Panic rose in your throat as you thought of the only solution possible.</p><p>“Elemental manipulation is harder but doesn’t take as much energy as banishment.”</p><p>“Y/N,” Jaehyun said your name immediately, and both Taeyong and Jeno looked uneasy about this.</p><p>“You do remember the last time you did that, right?” Jeno asked you cautiously.</p><p>“Of course I do,” you spat out, voice cracking over the second word.</p><p>Taeyong said, “Y/N, you don’t have to do this. There’s got to be another way, we just need to think of it. Wait until the others get here, Jungwoo might know something!”</p><p>“Before I pass out from banishing so many? Before one of them gets a lucky hit and seriously injures one of you? We don’t even know how far away the others are, or how they’re faring.”</p><p>The Nekomata bit his lip, clearly wanting to argue, but having no good comeback. You, most unfortunately, were right. Digging into your front pocket, you realized that you didn’t even have your lighter. You’d essentially sworn off elemental manipulation since that night on patrol, and you cursed yourself: you still should have brought it just in case.</p><p>Taking a deep breath, you imagined a lighter in your hand anyway, striking the pretend flint repeatedly, <em>click</em>, <em>click</em>, <em>click</em>, picturing the sparks flying out from it with every strike, until it finally caught fire. Your face was suddenly being warmed, and there in your hand, was a flame.</p><p>“Y/N, you just—” Taeyong’s awe was cut off by the Tengu.</p><p>“Will you be able to make sure you don’t burn down the entire forest while you’re at it?” Jeno asked curtly as he dissipated a couple more Wraiths</p><p>“If I just take out a few Wraiths at a time it should be fine,” you said, more to reassure yourself than anything else. “And besides, most of these Wraiths are probably just being created from the great evil being here. Not…”</p><p>You trailed off, not wanting to finish that sentence. Not corrupted souls of <em>people</em>.</p><p>You squeezed Jaehyun’s hand before dropping it, “You should get behind me, Jae.”</p><p>The other two Ayakashi already had, backs facing yours as they continued keeping the Wraiths at bay. Jaehyun obliged, firmly in the middle of you three. Now with all of your focus on the flame in your hand, you took a deep breath and increased the size, then doubled it, just like last time. The familiarity made your anxiety spike, the flame jumping along with it. You pushed those thoughts away, trying to calm the flames. But the harder you pushed them away, the more they persisted and the larger the fire in your hands got.</p><p>“Y/N…” Jeno said your name lowly, a warning.</p><p>You knew he was right, you couldn’t lose control of the fire. There was suddenly a presence right behind you, a hand gently brushing your hair back from your face before coming to rest on your shoulder, squeezing it gently.</p><p>“You’ve got this, Y/N,” Jaehyun murmured to you. “You’re saving yourself, and… you’re saving me, remember? If something happens to you, the Wraiths could get <em>me</em> next.”</p><p>You inhaled sharply, resolve filling your veins instead of panic. Jaehyun was relying on you to do this, you didn’t want anything to happen to him. The fire didn’t die down at all, instead it actually got bigger, but this time you were in control of it. You <em>wanted</em> it to get bigger.</p><p>Stepping forward, Jaehyun’s hand dropped from your shoulder, and you moved your focus to one of the Wraiths directly in front of you. This time you weren’t even thinking directly about what Sicheng or Jeno had taught you, you just <em>did</em>. Throwing out fireball after fireball at the Wraiths, not stopping to watch them burn up even once. One had managed to avoid your attack, and the tree behind it caught ablaze instead, but you took the fire right back off the trunk as easily as you’d seen Sicheng take water up from a puddle. The Wraiths weren’t appreciating your new tactic, and you were suddenly knocked into from the side. Leaning into the momentum, you rolled across the ground. The fires in your hands had all died, and you once again lit a small flame in your hands, growing it to launch it at the Wraiths.</p><p>Every time you moved, the three with you moved in tandem, staying behind you. You could hear Taeyong ushering Jaehyun around in anticipation with every move that you made, Jeno pushing the Wraiths towards you to make attacking them easier. You’d cleared the back of the shrine, taking just a moment to rest, chest heaving with the physical exertion you’d just put out. But amazingly, your powers felt almost <em>replenished</em>. As if the energy from the fire had replaced your own.</p><p>More Wraiths came flooding in from the front, concentrated in the space between the shrine and the trees. Having them all in one specific area made it much easier for you. Bringing your hands back together, palms facing each other and middle fingers and thumbs touching as you thrust your hands out to your right, sharply twisting and throwing your arms up and to the left, casting the fire away from you and across the Wraiths in a searing line. You encouraged the flames to grow as they rushed over the mass of Wraiths, consuming all of them in one go. Before it could strike the trees behind where they had just been, you stuck a hand out, and they returned to your palm, shrinking to fit comfortably there.</p><p>“There’s more coming up the mountain,” you announced, entirely attuned to your Onmyoji senses now. “The others are in pursuit. Mark’s powers are weak, Ten’s as well.”</p><p>“Yuta?” Taeyong asked in nearly a whimper.</p><p>“Fine. A little weak, he probably healed some people already.”</p><p>You saw the Wraiths before you saw your friends, throwing out another large strike like before, clearing out another dozen or so. It was with these ones that petrichor began filling your nostrils as they burned. You held your breath, dispensing of more and more as they came up. With a finality to it, you brushed a drop of sweat from your forehead before adding flames back to that hand, throwing up one last wall of fire at the Wraiths, all of them catching and turning to embers right before your eyes—dozens at once. As soon as they were gone, the visages of your friends were across the clearing from you. Renjun was swatting at a flame on his pants, and before Sicheng could put it out with his water, you had brought it back to you wordlessly. Extinguishing the flames in your hands, you rushed towards the group.</p><p>“Are you guys okay?” You asked with wide eyes, hurriedly doing a visual check-over for injuries on them.</p><p>Miscellaneous cuts, scrapes, and bruising on all of them. Ten and Mark seemed the worst off, the Jorogumo holding a hand over his right side, and the Onmyoji seeming just flat out exhausted, in addition to sporting what was definitely a broken nose.</p><p>Yuta was leaning against Johnny, presumably for physical support. You were sure he couldn’t risk healing those two without passing out again.</p><p>“Broken rib, bruised kidney,” the Kitsune gestured to Ten, then to Mark, “Broken nose, fractured occipital bone, and depleted mana.”</p><p>“I’ll be okay,” Mark spluttered out, leaning forward to let the blood from his nose drain out onto the ground.</p><p>“Are we done yet?” Ten asked with a wince. “Because if we are, it’d be awesome if someone could give us a ride to the hospital.”</p><p>“Jungwoo and Yukhei have to fix the seal over the great evil,” you said, feeling no satisfaction at seeing the state that they were in like you thought you might have.</p><p>“You two can go now,” Renjun dismissed them sharply. Apparently fighting together in battle hadn’t lessened the spite held for them.</p><p>“About that ride… Seriously, there’s no way we’re making it to the hospital like this.”</p><p>“Call an Uber,” Jeno snapped at them.</p><p>“Guys, stop,” you chastised them softly, bringing out your phone. “I know someone, hold on.”</p><p>Scrolling through your contacts, you clicked on the number of someone you hadn’t called in a rather long time. The line rang almost to voicemail, but the owner picked it up just in time.</p><p>“Hello?”</p><p>“Kun, I need another favor.”</p><hr/><p>After sending Mark and Ten off down the mountain with the presumption that Kun and/or Doyoung would be down at the bottom waiting for them, the rest of you were able to return to your focus to finishing the task at hand. Jungwoo and Yukhei led the way to the back of the shrine, and Jaehyun fell into step beside you.</p><p>“Who’s Kun and why is he at your beck and call?” He murmured to you, and you detected the slight hint of jealousy in his tone.</p><p>“Another Ayakashi. Oni Ogre,” you replied just as quietly, lacing your fingers with his. “I’ll tell you the story later, Jae.”</p><p>“Ah, okay.”</p><p>Jungwoo and Yukhei stopped in front of the altar, a stone slab with worn but ornate carvings along the sides, and the point of the greatest concentration of evil energy. Petrichor still plagued your nose, and you opted to purposefully breathe through your mouth instead. Jungwoo and Yukhei knelt down on opposite side of the altar, backs to the line of trees. Yukhei had sheathed his broadswords, getting on one knee to bury a large hand in the grass beneath him. Jungwoo was doing the same, sitting on both his knees as he laid his own hand to the ground.</p><p>“All the goodness that runs through this earth, lock away this great evil once more,” Jungwoo spoke clearly, assured but not demanding.</p><p>And you felt it, felt the positive energy being pulled from all sides, seemingly from the very core of the Earth beneath your feet, all being drawn to one area, a line directly connecting the two brothers’ hands, running right underneath the altar. The evil feeling faded as the goodness swelled, until you could sense it no more.</p><p>“Is that it?” Jaehyun broke into the silence, and you remembered that he was the only one who couldn’t sense what had just happened.</p><p>“Yeah, Jae, it’s over,” you told him as the brothers stood up once more.</p><p>The relief that washed over your group was tangible in the air, but you couldn’t focus on that when you were suddenly pulled into a chest, a yelp escaping your mouth. Jaehyun was squeezing you so tightly that you might have been afraid that you’d burst, but you didn’t care, this was exactly what you wanted. You wrapped your arms around him too, just as tight, breathing in heavily, both to relieve the tension in your body, and also to help chase away the terrible scent of petrichor that still lingered.</p><p>“Oh, I was so scared, Y/N,” he whispered to you, pecking your forehead. “I didn’t want to show it earlier, didn’t want to make you worry too much. But I was scared, Y/N, I really was.”</p><p>“It’s okay, love, it’s okay,” you murmured reassuringly, rubbing a hand up and down his back like he had done for you plenty of times before. “I’m here, it’s over, we’re all okay.”</p><p>“Thank you, for saving me, and for saving yourself. That second one means so much to me…” he continued pecking your forehead every few words. “I love you so much.”</p><p>You felt tears rising up in your eyes, “I love you too, Jaehyun.”</p><p>The soft chatter of your friends in the background became full conversations as you and Jaehyun turned quiet. Taeyong was fretting over Yuta’s state, the Kitsune basking in the attention from the Nekomata as Sicheng filled him in on the multiple injuries that he had healed them of—fractured collarbone that Sicheng sustained from leaping away from a Wraith and hitting the ground at the wrong angle, broken finger on Johnny, a torn ACL on Renjun, deep slice across Jungwoo’s chest, and several broken toes on Yukhei (apparently he had drop kicked a Wraith and it didn’t take that very well). It was a wonder that Yuta was still sort of upright, so of course he didn’t have enough in him to heal Ten and Mark too. Though you were sure they hadn’t exactly been a priority for him.</p><p>Jungwoo complimented his brother on a job well done before Johnny and Renjun joined them, reliving some close calls they had on their way up the mountain. Jeno suddenly cut in to boast about his own victories—not forgetting to mention how “stupid” you were for “trying to jump out of his arms a hundred feet in the air”—before mentioning how Jaehyun could punch Wraiths back into their true forms—“he <em>is</em> a human, right?” Earning a guess from Jungwoo, “Maybe some residual power from Lady Onmyoji had transferred into him from activating the charm”—before gushing over just how “fucking badass” you were with your fire manipulation. It was the most you’d ever heard Jeno say at once.</p><p>While Johnny and Renjun let out ooh’s and ah’s at his recollection of you burning up all the Wraiths, Jungwoo and Yukhei were silent. Which wasn’t that strange for Yukhei, but you could practically feel Jungwoo’s piercing gaze searing holes into you. You took a deep breath, remaining in your peaceful reverie in Jaehyun’s arms for just a few more moments before pulling your arms back to your own body. You laced your fingers with his as you met Jungwoo’s gaze, imploring him to join you and speak on whatever he was thinking.</p><p>Jungwoo kept his voice quiet, the others not paying much attention anyway, “My brother told me of how much the last time you had… dealt with Wraiths by fire had pained you. I hope you were not forced to compromise your beliefs or traumatize yourself, Lady Onmyoji.”</p><p>You pushed back against the twinge in your chest—petrichor still hung in the air around you, “I’ll be okay, Jungwoo. Thank you.”</p><p>“Your powers have developed wonderfully, Lady Onmyoji,” the Tsukumo-gami’s features relaxed as he turned the conversation more pleasant. “Jeno relayed to us that you created fire yourself, that is a very rare ability. I hope you will continue to visit me here for training.”</p><p>“Why not visit <em>me</em> in the city for my training?” You teased back.</p><p>He chuckled, “Ah, perhaps. Maybe we should alternate hosting and visiting.”</p><p>“Sounds good to me.”</p><p>As you looked over your friends—Taeyong recoiling from Yuta’s teasingly pursed lips, Sicheng hiding a snicker behind his hand; Jeno and Yukhei play-sparring, each with one of the Tsukumo-gami’s broadswords, Johnny and Renjun watching from afar, talking about when they wanted to reopen the café; Jungwoo walking back over to watch his brother—you couldn’t help but smile broadly. Jaehyun wrapped an arm around your shoulders, and you gladly leaned against him, wrapping your arms around his waist.</p><p>“We did good today, didn’t we?” Jaehyun said.</p><p>“Yeah, we all did.”</p><hr/><p>At your apartment later that day—Johnny had sent everybody home to get cleaned up and rest before returning to Lenticular that night for another celebratory feast/party—the joy, relief, and adrenaline that you’d felt at the shrine petered out, and you were tired. Physically, power-wise, and emotionally. You couldn’t get rid of the faint scent of petrichor around you, it was as if it had leeched onto your clothes, hair, and very skin. So you threw your clothes into your washing machine and scrubbed at your skin furiously under scalding hot water in your shower.</p><p>Jaehyun had been in your kitchen making tea for the two of you, but you knew he was no longer there when you heard someone try the door to the bathroom. You had locked it when you got in there, however, leaving him to resort to knocking on it.</p><p>“Y/N, love? Doing alright in there?” He called out to you.</p><p>“Yeah, fine,” you choked out over the lump in your throat. In reality, tears just as hot as the stream of water were pricking at your eyes and merging with the drops of water rushing down your face. Even your strongly scented coconut body wash couldn’t overtake it: petrichor.</p><p>“Then can I come in?”</p><p>A single sob erupted from your mouth, “No, Jae, I’m not okay.”</p><p>“Love, please let me in. Come on…”</p><p>Shutting the water off, you stepped out of the shower and blindly grabbed a towel to wrap around yourself. The steam had fogged up the mirror and hung suspended in the air of the bathroom, limiting your vision. Which admittedly didn’t mean much since you could barely see past your tears anyway. You shuffled to the door and unlocked it. Jaehyun pushed it open immediately, letting out a small gasp.</p><p>“Oh, love…” he murmured, grabbing your arm. All along your scalded skin were nail marks that were tender and raised even further than the parts that were burned from the water.</p><p>Jaehyun brought you out of the bathroom, the cold air of the rest of your apartment hitting you and making you shiver immediately. In your bedroom, you expected Jaehyun to take care of you the same way as before, dressing you and reading to you. But instead, he plopped down on the edge of the bed, bringing you to sit squarely onto his lap, not seeming to care about how you were just soaking his clothes now.</p><p>He was quiet as he set to work, placing a kiss to your each of the fingertips on your right hand, then the palm—the very palm that had held destruction in it not even an hour prior—then your wrist, all along your tingling forearm and elbow and upper arm, over your shoulder too, then along your triceps and up to your neck and jawline. They were light and soft and full of love. If his goal had been to make you stop crying, he failed, because you only sobbed harder at the gentle treatment he was giving you. He turned you in his lap to do the same to the other side, paying extra special attention to your hand again before working his way up. This time he didn’t stop at your jawline, kissing until he reached the corner of your mouth. There, he said, “I love you” in a voice so soft but so determined, so convinced, before sealing your lips with his.</p><p>You kissed him back on instinct, still clutching your towel to your chest. His hands settled around your waist, not moving, with no intentions other than to just keep you grounded to him, and you were thankful for that. If you weren’t grounded in that moment, you felt as if you could’ve burnt up just like the Wraiths.</p><p>Breaking away, you told him, “I can smell them. The Wraiths that used to be people, that I killed. It’s <em>my</em> signature, of the souls that I purified and killed. <em>Petrichor</em>. I don’t think I can face rainy days again now. And I can <em>still</em> smell it, Jae. I was trying to wash it off me, but it’s still there.”</p><p>Jaehyun accepted all of your words with grace, pressing another set of kisses to your shoulder as he took his time gathering his thoughts, “Well, how about after we get you dried off, we put you in some of my clothes, and I’ll spray extra cologne on them—the one that you actually like—and we take a well-deserved nap, and you can press your face into my chest until it goes away? And on rainy days, if I’m not around, you can grab one of my hoodies and put the hood up around you, pull the strings tight, and whenever you catch even a whiff of petrichor, you can bury your nose in the sleeves of it.”</p><p>You nodded lamely, unable to say anything else as you were just so consumed by the sweetness that he was regarding you with.</p><p>And he did just what he said. He let you dry yourself off as he got you a pair of his sweatpants, one of his t-shirts, and one of his hoodies. His bottle of cologne—the one you actually liked—was fetched from the bathroom and spritzed onto them, then on the pillows of your bed. Jaehyun got under the covers with you, immediately bringing you into his chest. As soon as <em>he</em> overwhelmed your nose, your eyes fluttered shut with content.</p><hr/><p>You traipsed into Lenticular Café that night still adorned in one of Jaehyun’s large hoodies. Taeyong perked up from where he had been sitting in a booth with Yuta—he’d gone to the Kitsune’s apartment after the shrine to keep an eye on him—when he saw you, eagerly streaking over to you. You let out a small ‘oof’ when he knocked into you, stumbling you back a few steps. Letting go of Jaehyun’s hand, you squeezed your friend tightly. You needed this.</p><p>You weren’t sure how long the two of you held each other, but when you broke apart, you were immediately pulled into another set of arms. Yuta gave you a noogie in the middle of the hug, and you whined and tried to wiggle out of his grasp. He chuckled and let you, fondness in his features. You’d barely stuck your tongue out at him when another hand was on your shoulder. You looked up at Johnny, taking in the tired but proud smile on his features.</p><p>This time you threw your arms around his neck, and he gladly hugged you back.</p><p>“You did take a rest before cooking all this up, right?” You asked as you squeezed him just a little.</p><p>“Renjun barricaded me in my room. Put a chair under the door and everything.”</p><p>“Good.”</p><p>Renjun then emerged from the back as you broke apart from Johnny, and when he met your gaze he simply gave you a short nod. Jeno was behind him, carrying a platter of food, and you couldn’t contain your surprise at him helping out. It only multiplied when he offered you a wide smile. One of these days you’d have to ask what was going on with him recently.</p><p>The sound of the door opening behind you caught your attention. It was Yukhei, and surprisingly Jungwoo too. You bounded up to your mentor, unable to hide how ecstatic you were that he was here.</p><p>“I figured I should get used to the city some more in preparation for when I visit for your training sessions,” he said, smile still tense.</p><p>Getting up on tiptoes to hug him effectively, you replied, “Thank you, Jungwoo.”</p><p>“You are welcome, Lady Onmyoji.”</p><p>You let go of him, and once on flat feet, you looked up at the teal-haired Tsukumo-gami, “And thank you, titan.”</p><p>Yukhei looked down at you with what would have been a stone face, except for the slight tug at the corner of his mouth, “You’re welcome, Onmyoji.”</p><p>To your great surprise, Sicheng was the last one to show up. Upon entering, his eyes turned blue and a patch of scales on the top of his forearm cropped up.</p><p>“Look who’s late now!” Yuta called out at him in jest.</p><p>“I know,” Sicheng held up his hands defensively. “I’m afraid I snoozed my alarm one too many times.”</p><p>“We’ve all earned the right to oversleep for like… the next year I think,” you reassured him as he walked further into the room, coming to a stop beside you. You wasted no time in throwing your arms around his neck, clearly catching him off-guard as he teetered back a step. He rested a single hand on your back, letting you hold him for as long as you wanted.</p><p>“Thank you, Sicheng,” you murmured, squeezing him just a little tighter with your words.</p><p>“You’re welcome, Y/N,” he whispered, even quieter.</p><p>When you let go of him and returned to Jaehyun’s side, all of you looked to Johnny. The Domeki knew exactly what to say, “Dig in!”</p><p>As you did so, you felt an uncomfortable prick of disappointment in the back of your mind at your seemingly incomplete numbers. Mark and Ten were nowhere to be seen. You doubted they had been invited at all.</p><hr/><p>Finals were over, meaning you had an entire two weeks of break before your next semester started up. And you and Jaehyun already had plans on how to spend it. The sound of your apartment door opening made you perk up from where you had been reclined on the couch. It was Jaehyun, and you wasted no time in flinging yourself at him.</p><p>He didn’t even stumble back, instead wrapping his arms around you, “Hey, Y/N!”</p><p>You didn’t respond, grabbing his face and melding your mouth to his hungrily. He’d been kept so busy with grading finals that you hadn’t seen him in almost a week, which had been much too long. Jaehyun had no problem with kissing you back just as eagerly, running a thumb over the slightly raised scar on your cheek.</p><p>“I missed you,” you said when you pulled back, voice just a slight whine.</p><p>He chuckled, pecking your pouty lips, “I missed you too. But that won’t be a problem anymore, will it?”</p><p>Today Jaehyun was officially moving into your apartment, and you were giddy with excitement. Taeyong had been out for a while, having moved into Yuta’s spare bedroom fairly soon after the battle at the shrine—at first his excuse was watching over the Kitsune while he recovered, but then he finally admitted that he enjoyed spending time with him, and they actually were really good friends.</p><p>Jaehyun had already practically moved in, spending nearly every night at your place anyway, with half your dresser and closet taken up by his things, and his shows in your watch history on your streaming service. He had only lived in his apartment again for the past five days to grade the finals of his classes, claiming that you were simply too much of a distraction and he’d get it done quicker that way. His lease was up at the end of the grading period, too, and he didn’t renew. Looking behind him, you saw just a suitcase and a couple of duffel bags. He really already had most of his stuff at your place anyway.</p><p>“No, it won’t,” you confirmed with a grin, letting go of him to help bring in his bags.</p><p>“So, <em>are</em> they dating?” Jaehyun asked as he followed you back towards the bathroom, and you knew exactly who he was referencing.</p><p>“No, Jae,” you snickered. “They’re not. Well, not as far as I know. We just couldn’t tell you that Taeyong was my catboy roommate, you know? And then I let you draw your own conclusions.”</p><p>You’d had your back to him as you set the bag next to the bed, and before you could turn around, an arm was around your waist, pulling you back into a firm chest, “Oh, you were… devious, weren’t you?”</p><p>“Still am,” you teased back.</p><p>“Really?”</p><p>“Yeah. Want me to prove it?”</p><p>“God, yes.”</p><hr/><p>Later that night, you turned around from your dresser in your pajamas to see Jaehyun already sat at the head of the bed, book open in front of him as he perused the pages with concentration. You clicked the main light off, leaving just the lamp on your bedside table on to give Jaehyun enough light to read by. One of his record players was set up on a corner of your dresser that had been cleared off just for it—his other one in your living room—and he’d put on a smooth, older record to play as the two of you winded down for the night.</p><p>“What are you reading, Jae?” You questioned, walking towards the bed.</p><p>“Here,” he patted his thigh, and you immediately complied, laying your head in his lap. He readjusted to run his fingers through your hair with one hand, pausing to press a long kiss to your forehead before he began reading to you from the book.</p><p>It was a story you’d never heard of, about magical creatures, wonderful places, and the fighting of some great evil. You listened to his voice, feeling it drip over you like warm honey, sweet and filling, lulling you into a state between waking and sleep where it seemed that only happiness and love existed.</p>
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